Darkside: Pilgrimage
by Kurosuzaku
Summary: Formerly "Final Fantasy Spiral". Kuro and Kiako along with a new ally, Kariudo, go on a pilgrimage to send the Aeons of each temple to the Farplane. Side-fic to Kiako's story, "Through the Fireplace: Pilgrimage."
1. Let's All Go to Hell

Final Fantasy Spiral

Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!

Chapter 1: Let's All Go to Hell!

-8-0-8-

Well, Kiako had done it again somehow. Even though it didn't seem like her fault, I still blamed her anyways. Kiako's fireplace went berserk and sucked back all the people who weren't from this world. She was all like 'whaa!' and I was all like 'dammit…' Soon after, the fireplace's gates flew open and we were in for another heck of a journey!

Landing in Besaid, we were miraculously reunited with everyone along with a new friend, Kariudo and some of her pals from the Fire Emblem series. Albel got sick with my group and decided to join Kariudo's group instead. As for Kratos…

Diablos served as my new Oversoul spirit since Shadow returned to his original world. I told Diablos to keep a low profile when with the others for now until things could settle a little. The last thing I wanted was for Kiako to freak out at the thing I brought back all the way from Hell.

"Hm, so this is Kilika Temple?" said Hao awed by the place.

"Hmph…" said Leon bored by the place.

"This feels JUST like home!" said Diablos in his human form overjoyed by the place.

"Ah…"

"Train! Don't you dare sneeze on me!" said Sven not even caring about the place.

"Ah-achyoo!" said, er, sneezed Train allergic to the place?

"Train still has a cold?" said Eve sarcastically.

"I'm leaving without you all," I said impatiently stamping forth.

We were in the entrance way. There were candles everywhere inside and everything was dyed in every shade of red possible. It actually hurt my eyes a little.

"DONNAAA!" That Barthello bastard was still looking for that woman?

"Would you like to hear a story of this temple?"

"Wha!" Everyone was startled by the old man behind us. I violently shook my head as a no. This old man talked as slow as Ansem from Kingdom Hearts AND his stories were damn long! "Mister Maechen… No stories for us please," I said faking a smile and trying to withhold my anger.

"… Pity." And he simply walked off.

"What was up with that?" asked Train. "I wanted to hear a story."

"You don't want to be standing here for hours and hours to let him finish his story… My explanations are much faster," I said. "So I'll explain about this place. This is Kilika Temple, home to the fire Aeon, Ifrit. Each temple in Spira has a Cloister of Trials one must face before being able to obtain an Aeon. But in this case, we are here to defeat it and send it to the Farplane where… it may rest in peace."

"Let's go then," said Leon walking to the platform at the end of the foyer followed by everyone else. He placed his hand on the panel and we started moving downwards.

"Kuro, what's wrong?" asked Diablos noticing my gloomy face.

"Has Kratos really returned to the world he's from?"

"What's with you suddenly? Hao said that he's fine, right? Even if he didn't make it back, he's resting at the Farplane… and probably watching over you."

"It was thanks to my stupid mistake in that battle against Ochu that cost his life," I whispered.

"It couldn't be helped… You were poisoned at the time…"

Even here in a different world, thoughts of my past kept tramping around in my mind; tramping around and around, stomping down my memories until only the nightmares were left. I had forgotten about those bad memories for awhile because nothing made me want to bring them back. When something like this happens, all of my nightmares come tackling me at once.

"I probably can't pull you out of your dark past, but just remember that I'll be in the darkness with you. It's where I live after all," said Diablos.

I sighed and thought for a moment. "Understood… Captain Coal Miner," I saluted and laughed at the "Damn you…" reaction on his face.

The platform we were on was descending really slowly and was almost at the bottom. I was about to kick the control panel to make it move faster until I was interrupted by a long groan fron Train. "Huuh I want milk… Hey Kuro, do they sell milk in this world?"

"Not that I know of," I replied. "You definitely won't find any vending machines here though…"

"Quit being a baby, Train… You're a grown man; you don't need milk every next second," protested Sven.

"Milk is good for bones you old man…" I mumbled rummaging through my backpack and pulled out a glass bottle. Train gasped happily and snatched it.

"Thanks Kuro!"

Finally, the platform halted with a loud clung. I played the Cloister of Trials music in my head for the fun of it. The trial looked significantly different than the original. "Well this is new…"

"What are you talking about?" said Leon.

"Well, there never used to be this much lava," I said scratching my head and observing the vast glowing orangey room ahead. It took a moment for me to adjust to the sudden increase in temperature. "Ehh, this can be a little troublesome."

"So, what should we do?" asked Eve.

"I can traverse this area with Spirit of Fire," said Hao.

"And I'm pretty much used to places like this," said Diablos.

"Leon-san, can your Stone Wall spell work here? It might be possible to use it to ride on," I told him.

"Probably."

"All right," I said. "By the looks of it, the room splits into three paths so we'll have to split into three groups."

"Well then, I guess I'll return to my true form," said Diablos, a shimmering dark light surrounding him. These fluttering shadows started engulfing him as some wings and claws took form. In a deeper voice, Diablos chuckled. "It's great to be normal again!"

"Define 'normal'…" I muttered.

"Let's go, Kuro," he said grabbing my arm.

"Eh, what? Hey!"

-8-0-8-

Summer is my most hated season; and being in here felt like the hottest day of summer, but ten fold! Casting Nulblaze on myself barely helped since my MP kept draining from holding up the spell as White Magic wasn't my forte. I would've suggested using my oversoul and searching around myself, but I was too exhausted so I rode on Diablos' back instead.

Heat from the lava below blinded my vision slightly, but more importantly, it made it really hard to breathe. Something was really odd other than the fact that the layout was completely different. The walls seemed to have been clawed at or something, as if a creature went on a rampage. My guess that it was Ifrit but…

"Yo Kuro, find anything yet?" Diablos asked still soaring across the seemingly endless hallway.

"No. Usually there would be Spheres to play around with and solve the puzzle," I replied gasping a little. "There's absolutely nothing here."

"Let's go back; we might've missed something along the way."

"S-sure."

After all this time I would've expected to be back at the room where everyone else was. Looking back, I wondered, "What the heck's going on? We didn't fly this far forward…"

"Try asking them," said Diablos.

"What're you talking about; There's no—whoa!" Right in my face were a bunch of those monsters that looked like Diablos; they had multiple names, but I couldn't remember them at the moment!

"Leave them to me, Kuro. Graviga!" A giant violet sphere appeared and caused the devil-looking creatures to struggle to keep aloft. They ended up sinking into the fiery grave below with the dark shadows of Graviga slowly fading. Pyreflies rose from below.

One half alive jumped out of the lava looking quite deformed and struck me with Firaga. There goes my NulBlaze… I countered with a Firaga of my own and blasted it to the Farplane where it belonged.

"So you can use Gravity magic?" I said sarcastically.

"You don't sound too amazed," mumbled Diablos pouting. Just then, the room started to deform and the Trial had truly started. The room temperature suddenly dropped a thousand degrees causing me let go of Diablos. I fell on a pointy pedestal with something shiny in the center and then I toppled to the ground.

"Ow," was all I could say.

"You okay there?"

"Fit… as… a… fiddle…" I managed to croak.

"Bloody fiddle more like it…" Diablos landed and reverted to his human form. Ripping off a part of his mantle, he tied it around the arm I crashed on. Stupid pedestal…

"Kuro? Kuro! Is that you Kuro? What's going on there? Are you alive? …" came a booming voice behind me. It came from the side of the evil hunk of rock that acted like a TV screen.

"Argh! Shuddup you old man; you're too loud!" I snapped. "Geez, what kinda moron designed this stupid place anyways?"

"O-old… man…"

A different voice came on; it was Train's. "Ahh… Sven got petrified."

Then Leon came on. "Should I use a Remedy?"

"Sven?" said Eve from another side of the pedestal.

"Eve? Eve! Where are you? I can't find you," said Sven who became unstoned immediately upon hearing Eve's voice and now was frantically searching.

"Everyone shut up and listen!" I ordered. "We need to figure out how to get to the end and send Ifrit to his grave, er the Farplane. I can't do this alone as much as I'd like to. Now if one of you can describe the room you're in, that'd be great."

Hao went first. "Eve and I are in a square room with a tightly shut door and we're speaking to you on this screen on a small pillar."

"Us too," said Leon; Train and Sven were arguing about something in the background and Leon used Stone Blast to shut them up.

"There's something on the door," said Eve. "It looks like… a hole."

"Okay." I thought for a brief moment and told everyone in the other 2 rooms to put the shiny orb from the pedestal into the door.

…

"Nothing's happening," stated Train.

"I know that!" After further observing the markings on the door I figured that I needed the fire element to pass. Hao and I could use Fire, but Leon can only use Earth magic with his Swordian, Chaltier. And of all the things Sven's attaché case didn't have, it was a flame thrower.

"Wouldn't this be enough?" asked Sven trying to click his lighter. "Ngaaah! Work dammit!"

"Sven, can I borrow your hat?" said Train snatching it anyways and tossing it to the ground. "Leon, can your Stone-something create flint stones?"

"Train! What're you doing!" shouted Sven.

"Ah, so that's it. Alright, Stone Blast!"

Drawing his Hades gun, Train inserted a single bullet and shot. "Burst Bullet!"

"Ahhh!" Sven cried as the bullet hit the stones and ignited a small flame on Sven's hat.

"Sorry I had to waste a Burst for something like this, Sven. I know how you feel."

"Hao, everyone is ready now," said Eve. Apparently Hao was napping during the little skit in the other room.

Simultaneously, we cast a flame into the orb as it started to glow bright crimson with the rest of the markings on the door. Opening with a low groan, we proceeded to the next part of the trial. Before the door closed behind me, I looked back at the forth side of the pedestal that I never got a chance to see. At that moment I saw an explosion, and the face on that screen was…

"Hi, ya? Ya? Ya? Ya? Ya?" echoed the voice of doom across the circular atrium ahead.

"… Diablos."

"Yeah?"

"Let's quit this pilgrimage and become miners."

"… I heard the Mythril Mines has a few open jobs…"

On the left came in Hao and Eve, and on the right; Train, Leon and Sven who was taking out a spare hat.

"Hm… This is quite strange," said Hao looking about the large room.

"Huh? What d'you mean?" asked Train.

Sven said shaking his head, "Look around; there's no other exits."

Another puzzle to solve and over half of us were idiots, me not included. This circle room was entirely empty other than the eternally dark ceiling. Might as well check it out.

"Diablos, spirit ball mode. Oversoul!" I dashed upwards into the abyss above. In nearly seconds something flew past my face; a searing ball of fire. Soon more started to appear and soon I realized I had triggered a trap or rather something to solve this stupid trial. I heard whining and wailing from below as the floor moved up like an elevator and halted several hundred metres up. Problem was that I got hit by the damn floor before I could fly any higher.

"Kuro, you okay?" asked Hao looking over me.

"Just fine… Eh- where's Wakka?" I said standing up and releasing my Oversoul. The room was only lit by the fireballs now.

"WHEEE! Haha! You can't stop any goals from me, ya? Block! Vemon Shot!"

"Tell me, exactly how he is doing that? Playing Blitzball with fire?" said Diablos gawking awkwardly.

"Tackle Slip WHOOSH! Missed me, ya!"

"I think the real issue is how good he is…" Hao said.

"…And the fact that Wakka is swimming in AIR doesn't concern you one bit…" I mumbled. Noticing that the fireballs only appeared to shoot along that horizontal plane, I wondered… "Hey! The opponent's goal is upwards!"

Wakka gasped dramatically. "That means that I have not been scoring any goals… The score is still 0 – 0, I can still win! YAA! Jecht Shot!" He kicked a fireball to the side of the wall, then punching it as it bounced back. With a swirl and a twirl he smashed the flames one by one towards the ceiling and moving about as if he were teleporting DBZ style. Soon the room was pitch-black as the fireballs disappeared. The room was rising again. What a weird puzzle this was… I didn't even know what the heck I was doing. Well, as long as we reached Ifrit, nothing else mattered.

"… How does he know Jecht Shot?" I asked somewhat astonished. I poured a little bit of MP into my scythe-staff faintly lighting the room.

Landing with a thump, Wakka replied, "GOOOALL! Thank you Tidus for teaching me such a great technique; thank you Lu for allowing me to learn a single spell from the Sphere Grid!"

"Lulu, eh? That explains the flying…" I said scratching my temple. "Wait, the Float spell doesn't even exist in FFX…"

Some light from a hole in the ceiling above crept into the area. When the elevating platform stopped, I suddenly collapsed to my knees and the light from my staff blew out. "K-Kuro?"

I gave my evil glare. "Can you please not surround me like this? It's really unnerving… I just get dizzy from elevators…"

Ahead were one last door and a strange discolouring in the wall to the side with a slot to put something in it. Agh! The Destruction Sphere! Every Cloister of Trials had one! Damn, now the treasure was locked in there forever.

"Kuro. I have been meaning to ask, but what is this for?" Eve handed me a glowing object.

"Something to open this door?" Hao wondered.

"Not exactly…" I replied.

"Oho, good job Eve! We can count on you in times like this unlike this other guy here," Sven said glancing at Train who retaliated with a punch. As usual, they started another pointless squabble.

"The Destruction Sphere… Eve, where'd you find this?" I asked.

"When Train was burning Sven's hat," she answered in her usual meek tone.

"What's this 'Exploding Sphere' thing for anyways?" wondered Diablos who had already snatched it out of my hands.

"Destruction Sphere. It's for revealing hidden treasure basically… Though I like the name 'Exploding Sphere', heheh."

"Okay…" Diablos stuck the sphere into the socket in the wall as it shone and then, well, exploded. He opened the giant chest and found a weapon inside. "Oooh! Now I won't have to transform back all the time to fight!" He was just happily waving around the new sword of his. It looked similar to Tidus' Baroque Sword except black instead of red.

Shaking my head and looking up to the hole in the ceiling, I saw a Kilika Sphere suspended from some vines… and Wakka… floating away into the sky…

"Ahh! Help me! Sir Kurooooo!" he cried.

"If he's not in Blitzball mode he can't do anything…" I groaned to myself. Tearing off the bright crimson sphere from the vines with my scythe, I carefully placed it on the final door. The lines and symbols started radiating a blaze of light. After the door finally opened, there was a very strange silence.

"What're we just standing here for?" complained Leon

"Are you going in or what?" said Sven to Train.

"Why do I have to go in?" Train retorted. "It's Kuro's job to fight the monster."

"Ehhahahaha!" echoed a creepy voice.

"Creed! I'm going in there!" shouted Train instantly dashing off and the rest of us followed. I was about to take off when I noticed the flames lighting the stairway ahead suddenly turned azure. Pyreflies were starting to show up too. I had a bad feeling about this.

"Kuro-sama!" echoed a high pitched voice followed by a "Uuuoogh!" from Train. Hurrying up the steps, I found Charden and Kyouko clinging to Train at the top.

"Who the hell are these people?" asked Leon.

"Creed, Charden, Kyouko…" I said pointing at then respectively. "I believe we met them back in your world."

"Really? I don't recall…"

"Creeeeeed!" Train was in a shooting frenzy with the seemingly invincible Creed.

"Train! Calm down!" I shouted and then suddenly I heard footsteps. Quickly I signaled to Diablos with random gestures to get the hell out of here ASAP. He somehow understood and vanished into the darkness. It looked like Kiako and her gang was finally here.

-8-0-8-

A/N: The first chapter of the sequel is at last done! Sorry for the eternally long wait! School's been a hell itself so I couldn't really help it.

Next chapter, out of the frying pan and into the electrical stove! Er, wait… how'd it go again? Kuro heads to the Djose Temple where Ixion lies and awaits its sending!


	2. Kuro has a Soft Side?

Final Fantasy Spiral

Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!

Note: FFSpiral is obviously derived from FFX's world, Spira.

Chapter 2: Kuro has a Soft Side?

-8-0-8-

After the run in with Kiako and the battle with Ifrit, we went our separate ways once again. We decided that my group would go to the Djose and Macalania temples. As for Kiako and Kariudo, they went to the other temples. Since the pilgrimage basically went all in a straight line from Besaid to Bevelle, I didn't have to worry much about getting lost. However this wasn't like an RPG where if you run to the edge of the map you wouldn't fall off.

"Sven!" shouted Train dangling from Eve's left arm whose voice echoed throughout the rocks. "Lil' Princess ain't gonna make it!"

"Don't worry, I will make it!" strained Eve flapping her wings.

"Thanks Eve, you're a life saver…" collapsed Sven in relief after crash landing on the other side of the canyon. For a second I almost thought he meant the candy Life Saver … I was quite exhausted after going through Mushroom Rock Road. It was definitely a lot easier when there was a map and no encounters…

"Man I'm so tired…" I groaned.

"Yes, so we've heard many times," said Hao nonchalantly. He peered into the temple of thunder and lightning, home to Ixion. "Perhaps we should rest before going through Djose's Cloister of Trials."

"As much as I would like to get this done now, I'd have to agree with Hao," nodded Leon. We all sat down and there was an eerie silence between us.

"Need… Milk…"

"Seriously Train, what are you addicted to milk or something?" said Sven fixing his third hat after losing it when Eve was flying him across.

"Oh, by the way where's that Diablos guy?" Train asked.

"Over here." Train jumped from being startled and almost fell off the edge… again.

"You gotta stop doing that. You might give someone a heart attack one day… especially if you're in devil form…" I weakly scolded.

"Tch, you're no fun when you're tired," said Diablos sitting down beside me happily rocking my head left and right.

"Remove that claw from my head or I'll blow it off." Diablos merely laughed and continued to rock my head. He was fine because I unsummoned him back at Ifrit's temple but he wouldn't ever come back no matter how hard I tried summoning while going through Mushroom Rock. I found that quite strange…

-8-0-8-

Waking up I… wait I fell asleep? Still groggy, I saw a strange blob from far away around the rocks disappear. After gaining full vision, I found that I was lying in Diablos' lap. I hastily jumped up and shouted to him, "B-bastard, did you do anything to me?"

"Why would I do anything to you? And besides, does this face look like I did anything bad?" I could tell Diablos was smiling despite his devil form.

"I dunno, kinda hard to tell," I said sarcastically.

"You're the one who suddenly fell asleep. In any case, everyone's waiting inside. Let's go."

As I entered the foyer, I was greeted with a "what the hell took you so long to get up" from Leon.

"Don't blame her, she's been fighting the most fiends out of all of you," said Diablos.

"What, were you spying on me or something? Was that where you were this whole time? Was that why I couldn't summon you?" I protested.

"Calm down Kuro!" snapped Leon. "Our priority goes to defeating this Ixion creature."

"… Sorry," I simply said and walked forth to the door at the end of the hall and opened it. I stared blankly into the massive lightning storm inside and quickly closed it.

"Hm? What's wrong?" asked Eve.

"By any chance do you all have something that guards against lightning?" I asked. "…and perhaps some sunglasses?" They all shook their heads. "There's no way my Nulshock would last… Argh, why do the trials I get keep flooding with some sorta elemental magic?"

"Maybe you could negate the spell effect," suggested Leon. "My earth spells should work."

"This is Final Fantasy world, the elements work differently. Nice try though."

"How about… water?"

"Sure, if the electricity wasn't being constantly generated. I short circuit the place, then what? The entire room is still a death trap if Ixion generates more electricity. Look, there're even wires if you look carefully; touch one and you're dead."

Train got an idea. "Why don't I use my Rail Gun?"

"And that would be…?"

"My Hades gun can store static electricity generated from the nano-machines inside me. I could use Hades to absorb electricity and then--"

"--wouldn't your gun explode?" I said finishing his sentence raising an eyebrow. "Besides, I doubt you can absorb all of the electricity Ixion generates."

"Instead of exploding Train's gun, why not explode Ixion?" suggested Diablos.

"That's cruel," said Eve pouting.

"I don't think 'explode' is the right word, Diablos…" muttered Leon.

"It may give us some time to run across, however…" said Hao looking towards me and I knew that I had to go for it. Why couldn't Hao do anything for once?

"This just ain't my day," I moaned. "I'll see what I can do." Before Sven could open his mouth I reassured him that I would be fine by shoving his hat into his mouth, even though I really wasn't sure I would be fine. I stepped through the door and immediately casted Nulshock. I charged up for a lightning spell and casted Thundaga around me. "Not… enough!" I said struggling to overcome Ixion's power. I could hear shouts from outside the door, some encouraging me, some annoying me.

Suddenly my Nulshock faded; I dropped to my knee as I struggled to keep my Thundaga up and prevent Ixion's lightning from getting to me. Train jumped in and aimed his Hades upwards. "Train you idiot! What're you trying to get killed?" I snapped.

"Trust me! This will work! RAILGUN!" A flaring beam of light shot upwards and broke through the ceiling. "Now's your chance, everyone go!"

When the rest of them got to the other side, Train stopped firing, picked me up, and dashed across before the electricity returned. I had forgotten how strong Train was, being a former Chronos member and all, not to mention number XIII. "Thanks…" I muttered after he put me down. We proceeded down the hall to whatever that lays ahead.

"You look like you didn't want to be saved," said Leon.

I gave a deep sigh. "I'm just not used to being saved, nor do I really like being saved."

"Because you feel like you have to owe a debt, right?" said Hao. I kept my mouth shut. "I know you too well." No, Hao is a mind reader…

"Nah it's alright, Kuro. I'm used to doing things without rewards. That's what being a sweeper's all about," said Train smiling.

Sven coughed, "Because you're usually at fault for never capturing the target…"

"What was that?" Train retorted.

"But…" I looked down.

"If you really want to pay me back, buy me some milk then."

"Fine."

"Heheh, I really haven't seen Kuro's soft side before," commented Diablos.

Hao explained, "She's like that when she's usually stressed out. It's not that she's being soft. Come to think of it, I don't think I myself have seen Kuro 'soft.'"

"Yeah, I've only seen her annoyed, evil, and… That's it."

"You people coming or what?" I said with an annoyed and evil look waiting at the door to the next room. As I opened it, I heard a screeching neigh as something impaled the door and my chest. I quickly pulled the horn out and slashed at it with my scythe to make it withdraw.

"Stand aside." Oh, it was white blob guy back outside when I woke up. He walked towards us carrying what looked like a lantern on a stick.

"And just who are you?" I demanded.

"My, you're not very polite for a woman," he said.

"Tch. Then, answer my question, PLEASE, Sir Person," I said annoyed. "Who are you?"

I saw him make a quick glance at Diablos and then he responded. "I was called here to check up on the temple. Initially I was going to let your group handle this. When I saw that flash of light blast up from the roof, I decided to go in and see what was going on. I knew I shouldn't have let a little black mage handle this and now you're hurt."

"I hate this guy already," I grumbled to myself.

"That look in her eye is not a good sign…" said Diablos quietly to himself. My other guardians also knew that.

"Please stay here and let me handle the rest," said white blob man.

"I've been in worse situations. I'm fine." Holding back anger was always difficult…

"If you were fine, then there would not be that much blood. Ixion had penetrated quite deep--"

"I'm still alive and I can talk, that's fine enough for me." …very difficult…

"Kuro I think--"

"Shut up old man! Erk…" I could handle this… I had to…

"See? And you call yourself fine…"

"SHUT UP!" I lashed out at him and drew my weapon. Before I could make another move, I found my arms twisted behind me and both my own and his weapon at my neck.

"You wanted to know who I was. Ciel Arailes, White Wizard. Pleased to meet you, little girl."

-8-0-8-

My mind was in chaos flickering from "Ow I'm in pain" and "Damn that white mage bastard." Sorry, white WIZARD. Perhaps this was just my usual hatred for being looked down upon. Hey the pain disappeared?

I awoke; at least I thought I did, in a pitch black place. Was I dead? How the hell could I die just from being stabbed?

"Ixion hit a lethal spot." The darkness lightened to a purplish red. Diablos flew in and landed beside me. "No matter how strong you are, you're still a vulnerable human."

"Tch, pathetic… So I really am dead?" I muttered standing up.

"Not completely. I'm sustaining your life with my darkness. If my darkness disappears, you'll be dead." I kept silent and looked down. "I'll tell you, there is one way to save yourself." Still I was silent.

"What do I have to do?" I said quietly in a low voice.

"It's more what I have to do. Darkness is basically my power, such as my ability to use magic, ability to morph into a human form, you know. If I let it all absorb into you, it will anchor your soul to your body, and you'll live."

"That means you'll lose all of your power."

"It's a small price to give. It's not like I get to do much anyways. I'll still be around though, don't worry."

"But…"

Diablos chuckled. "For an evil black mage with a horrible temper, you're much too kind. Or rather you're too soft."

"But I can't--"

Diablos pounded my head. "Stupid. There's no way I can let you die. I'd never be able to stand having you around in the underworld for an eternity."

Returning to my usual hateful self, I grumbled, "Yeah, thanks… really…"

"Now that's the Kuro I know," Diablos said happily.

-8-0-8-

"—that maggot's probably dead…" What's Albel doing here? And what the hell, he's the one that will die…

"Kuro you're awake!"

I was back in the room when Ixion had 'killed' me. My guardians were still around. They seemed to be observing the room ahead where Ixion was in; apparently it escaped somewhere.

"Wha… Kariudo?"

"Thank goodness you're alive!"

"Umm yes… Is Kiako with you by any chance?" I said scratching my head. I noticed that my wound had completely healed up leaving only a giant hole in my shirt. Unwrapping the bandages from my arm that got injured by the attack of Ifrit's Cloister of Trials pedestal thingy, I tied it around my self to cover the gaping hole.

"She should be arriving soon after getting lost several times," she said pondering.

"Great…" I said scowling. "Let's go find her before she hurts herself again."

"Haha, yes, let's go." Kariudo marched on ahead with her guardians to attempt to solve the next puzzle of this confounded trial.

'Diablos… stupid bastard… Now I have a huge debt to return…'

-8-0-8-

A/N: Crap, how long has it been since my last update? Argh! Waaay too long. I can't promise to be any faster because of high school taking over my life and making me insane. To those who still read this, I am very thankful! Happy early New Year, 'cause who knows when my next update will be…


	3. A Glimmer within Darkness

Final Fantasy Spiral

Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!

Chapter 3: A Glimmer within Darkness

-8-0-8-

"Kuro-san you're sure you're okay?…"

"And, yeah I'm fine." I told her as we walked to the final door. How did I know it was the final door? It looked really fancy with all those streaming lights and electricity.

"Man, I wasted over 5 hats already… I'm running out of spares…" moaned Sven.

"Geez, just forget your stupid hats. You look better without it anyways!" complained Train.

"With all this static, my hair will go all over the place!"

"Why do you even care? We're battling and we see you fixing your hair?"

Sven stood straight to look all cool with anime sparkles. "Because I am a gentleman. A gentleman must present themselves in battle in a gentlemanly manner."

"This is hopeless…" said Eve meekly.

"Hahaha, even Eve thinks that you're ridiculous!" laughed Train.

"HEY!" Leon shouted. "We're here." Oooh, fancy shiny door…

"Kuro… No, I'll speak with you later after we finish here," said Hao. I bet he was wondering how I had survived.

I took a deep breath and sighed… I slammed open the door to see Ixion who had a person on its horn. "Dammit, it's that white blob guy!"

"It's Ciel," Diablos corrected.

"And he tells me that he could handle this himself… Everyone! Spread out and stun Ixion in anyway! I'll go help him!"

While Ixion became unconscious from the barrage of attacks, I Oversouled and soared towards the silent raged beast and pulled Ciel from its horn and laid him in the far corner of the room. He was covered in blood. I tore off my mantle and wrapped it around Ciel in attempt to stop the bleeding. I suddenly heard a loud cry from Ixion. Oh damn; Overdrive!

Ixion shot a giant bolt of lightning at me, but I sped across the room and caught it with the crystal-orb end of my staff. I glared at it as if wanting its bloodshed and fired it back startling the horse. With it off guard, I raised my scythe high. Hao suddenly grabbed my arm. "You're here to send it right?"

I snapped back to normal and lowered my weapon. "Y-yeah." Kariudo and I sang the Hymn and sent the Aeon to the Farplane.

"I'm gonna go and bring Ciel to an inn. Wait for me at the entrance." And Diablos flew away before I could say another word. Although I wanted to know what Diablos had to do with Ciel since Diablos never really does stuff like that; I knew it was best to just leave it alone.

-8-0-8-

"KURO-SAMA!" I almost thought it was Kiako at the entrance. But it was just Kyouko trying to kiss Train again who retaliated with the white cat. "Bleh! Not the white cat again! I want Kuroneko-sama!"

"E-enough already! Just get awaagh!" Now she had him in a head lock…

"Kyouko-san… Please, we must be heading off, now…" said Charden.

While Train ran for his life and Kyouko ran for her love, Hao asked me, "Diablos had saved you didn't he?"

"Huh?"

"Your soul had left your body when that Aeon attacked you. Diablos said that he would heal you, but that's not quite true, am I correct?"

"Yes, that's right… He had given me all of his power to anchor my soul. He didn't say how long it would last though."

"You felt it right? Your mind's imbalance? It's probably due to having the power from Hell inside you."

Train's screaming really ruined the mood. Regardless… "Dammit…"

Leon walked to where Hao and I were. "What's wrong over here?"

"THAT!" I lied pointing at Train and Kyouko's little episode. "I'm ending this now!" I blasted a Firaga at both of them.

"AHHH!" they both screamed as Train flew towards me.

"Let's go, bastards…" I fumed dragging him with me.

-8-0-8-

Not too long later, I saw Kiako who had asked Gippal where I was. I said "yo" and she reacted with a deafening scream. Shoving Kyouko into Kiako's face, I forced her to take Kyouko out of annoyance. Kyouko took Charden with her 'cause she couldn't have her Kuro-sama. After a battle between whether or not we should stay at the inn (I lost), we all took a rest. I awoke in the middle of the night and stood by the window and peered at the full moon.

"Kuro, you really need to sleep."

"I don't want to hear that from you, Diablos."

"I'm sorry…"

"Why? I'm the one who caused you to lose your powers."

"I couldn't guard you. And I transferred my powers of my own will. It'd be troublesome if you die."

"Troublesome? I'm gonna be more of a burden then ever if I lose my mind! You should have left me to--" Diablos grabbed my head and smacked it down on the window sill.

"What happened to you? Just from a few stupid mistakes you give up? How will you pay me back when you're dead and even more helpless? Hao told me. You owe me don't you? Pay it back by living."

"Dia…"

"Otherwise my efforts would've been wasted."

"…get claw… off … crushing!…"

"Uh, my bad…" he said sheepishly. With the blood rushing back into my brain, I felt extremely dizzy.

"Geez, my head hurts so much that now I won't ever be able to sleep…"

"Well then, do you wanna hear a story?"

"Not another one… You'd better not try and speak French again…" I told him referring to the incident back at home during winter.

"It's about my past… You've been wondering right?"

"Not really… I convinced myself that you were a homeless coal miner for so long that I didn't really care."

"…Ahem well, to tell you the truth…"

"Diablos is not your summon." Hao entered the room. "He never was to begin with."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked but then realized now why Diablos wouldn't come when I tried summoning him at Mushroom Rock. "Then…"

"If you want me to be your summon--"

"—beat him in a one-on-one duel," Hao interrupted.

"You do know everything don't you?" remarked Diablos. "Anyways, my original summoner was--"

"Ciel," he said cutting Diablos short again.

"Stop interrupting! And yes. Before I returned to Hell many years ago, I was the GF (Guardian Force) of Ciel under the name Diablos…"

Completely ignoring what he said, I glanced out the window and sighed. "Morning already…"

"The sun has barely risen though," said Hao. "I think it would be wise to rest a bit more."

"My head hurts so I can't go back to sleep." I glared at Diablos who tried to avoid eye contact.

"Well, I'll be off myself then," he said trying to avoid getting me any angrier. "Now that my powers are in you, I'll be able to respond to your calls. It's the first step to getting me as your GF. However, that won't stop me from popping out of nowhere, heheh." With that, he retreated within the shadows of the room and vanished.

"Be sure to watch yourself, Kuro," warned Hao before I left the room. "Try not to fight too much until you've rested more."

I sighed. "Understood."

And so I left with a note by my bed saying that I was going to Macalania Temple. All my guardians of course tried to convince me to stay and rest longer. That would've been a good idea since I got no sleep but… "I've wasted plenty of time here, let's just go already. I promise to rest at the next inn."

-8-0-8-

After about an hour of walking, I stopped for a moment on the path we were on towards Macalania Temple.

"What's wrong Kuro?" asked Hao.

"I can't remember what our next stop was before Macalania…" Everyone fell over.

"You mean you never bothered to buy a map?" Leon groaned crossing his arms.

"Train always takes our gil and goes on a food binge," I said.

"Eheheh…" Train laughed sheepishly scratching his head.

"Train, you--!" Sven lashed out at Train thus starting another stupid fight.

"If I recall, it was a place I liked and hated at the same time…" I said pondering. Hao poked my shoulder and pointed at the sign: MOONFLOW. "Oh…"

-8-0-8-

"Ride ze shoopuf?"

"Now I remember why I hated this place…" I grumbled. "Um, yes, we would like to ride a… Shoopuf…"

"Zat ish 100 Gilibible."

"Say what now?"

"Pleaze pay if riding ze Shoooopuf."

"What do you mean we gotta pay for a ride!" I stormed punching at the blue frog known as a Hypello while Train was holding me back.

"Hey! Calm down!" he shouted.

"KURO-SAMA!" As if I could ever hope to cure my headaches… Not just Kiako, but Kyouko as well… they both have appeared…

-8-0-8-

After some enduring of more headaches, I finally got to 'ride ze Shoopuf.' I collapsed after getting off and walking part way into the woods to Guadosalam.

"Kuro!" Sven cried.

"Geez, Kuro. You gotta stop pushing yourself so far," said Train kneeling down.

"Sorry… The next inn wasn't far… or so I thought…" I panted.

"Please don't apologize. Kuro, you have been doing really well," said Eve in a sort of confident tone. "I want to be helpful like Kuro is."

"Hold on, Eve. Train's the one who has most energy, let him carry Kuro," said Sven worrying for Eve. He's way too over protective… Eve's a bio-weapon for goodness sakes!

"Can we just hurry it up?" Leon muttered with his arms crossed impatiently tapping his foot. He was probably tired too.

"Here we go." Train lifted me from the ground and gave me a piggy-back ride as we moved on. "Surprisingly, you're quite light."

"Shut up… I'd kill you if I wasn't so exhausted…"

-8-0-8-

We finally made it to the inn and I was finally FINALLY able to get some real sleep. No one bothered to wake me because they knew I needed the full rest.

"Maaan I slept great!" I said feeling refreshed with some new clothes on. It was just my old one except not so torn up.

"Maaan you slept a lot…" groaned Train.

"About 15 hours…" said Hao.

"Are you feeling alright now?" said Sven.

"Yeah, much better, thanks."

Leon sighed. "We can get going at last. I asked some people around here. Our next destination is the Thunder Plains and then Macalania Forest."

"KURO!" Just when I thought nothing could go wrong today…

-8-0-8-

A/N: Whew… Too much Tales of the Abyss is bad for you… Really! Some characters from TotA will be appearing soon. Look forward to it!


	4. Stayin' Frosty

Final Fantasy Spiral

Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!

Chapter 4: Stayin' Frosty

-8-0-8-

The Thunder Plains were utter hell… We managed to get through safely though. I was on the verge of hurling every time Kiako mentioned 'love' and crap like that. Basically she and Heihachi are full of togetherness; it made me sick. Upon reaching Macalania Forest, we, as in my group of morons, decided on the right path of the woods (after losing at rock-paper-scissors for the first time… dammit!).

We all came upon the lake that Tidus and Yuna were swimming in for 5 minutes and not drowning. I spotted white-blob-man at the shore. "Ciel?"

"Diablos! I thought I told you not to pop up out of nowhere!" I scolded. Train pulled out his Hades gun and aimed it at Ciel.

"Train, what the hell are you--" Before Sven could finish, he had already shot. I saw a shiney cape-like thing wave through the air revealing a different person and then he vanished.

"Who was that?" asked Eve.

"Someone from the Chronos."

"Was there really a need to shoot him though?" asked Leon.

"He might have been searching for Creed and came here to use us. He has the ability to mask himself as whomever he chooses," explained Train.

"Wow, when you're not obsessed with food, you're actually quite knowledgeable," I said sarcastically.

"Ehh! What is that supposed mean?" Train retorted. I suddenly collapsed. "Kuro!"

"Sorry, for whatever reason my strength just won't hold up like it used to. …Can we rest here for a little while?"

"Hm, alright then," said Hao. "There are no problems with everyone else?"

"Fine then. It's alright with me," said Leon. Wow and he's usually the impatient one. The others also agreed for the sake of my health. Diablos' power within me must have been the cause. Or my lack of sleep.

-8-0-8-

Camp was set up nearby the lake. The Black Cat gang went off to hunt for something to eat since Train had already eaten all of our rations that would've lasted us TEN DAYS!

"I haven't seen the stars in such a long time…" said Hao. I had already dozed off, but I was still conscious. It wasn't like I was eavesdropping or anything… Leon was off nearby the lake away from camp mumbling to Chaltier, his old Swordian pal.

"Yeah, pretty aren't they?" said Diablos staring up as well. He gave a deep sigh. "After that whole incident with Ixion, it seems Kuro's spirit has been weakened."

"Of course. She feels bad for making a stupid mistake and nearly costing her life," replied Hao.

"Well, it's not like she would've known that Ixion was right at the door waiting for her…"

"That's not what she's upset about."

"It seems like it…

"Being worried over… our _leader_ can't accept such a thing."

"That's right…" I whispered. "I've seen enough people leave me…"

"What a weird girl. We all just care for her," said Diablos.

"You care?" said Hao a bit surprised.

I spoke out loud this time. "Stupid. If I rely on people's help all the time, I won't be able to do anything myself. You're all being over protective; it's weighing me down."

"Ah, you were listening?" said Diablos a bit nervous.

"It'd do some good for my self-esteem if you could stop worrying a while. I'll be sure to rest when I need to. I'm really getting sick of traveling."

I heard a voice suddenly behind me. "Dinner's ready!" I instantly went into kill mode.

Then another, "Ya!" But I thought it was the same person so…

"WAKKA! DIE!" I screamed picking up a log from the campfire and chucked it at the first person I saw.

"NO! MY HAT! It's burning! AHH!"

Leon walked over and wondered what the hell was going on. "Did I… miss something here?"

"Ahem… False alarm…" I said shrugging.

After rest time was over, we set off again. Not soon later, I heard a gunshot. It wasn't Train's, his had a unique sound to its fire… "AHH!" I knew that corny scream anywhere… Fayt was somewhere nearby. Rushing over to the scene, we spotted two scientist looking dudes.

"You can't hide Vincent Valentine!" said one of them, Hojo.

"Ho, it looks like some new subjects appeared…" said the other, Doctor from Black Cat who pointed a gun at me. I was too stunned to react.

"KURO!" Train jumped in the way to block the bullet. Kiako's team had arrived soon after.

'Protected again…'

-8-0-8-

The walk to the agency at the end before reaching Macalania temple was tiresome, but we made it. All of us. Due to that bullet, Lucifer or whatever it was called, the nano-machines within them changed Train's form into that of a kid's. Well, at least he'll eat _less_ thank goodness. Hao made a quick remark about his reincarnation abilities (darn his immortality…). It was hard to tell the difference between Hao's and Chibi-Train's voice; they sounded nearly identical. If I recalled, since Train was able to use the Rail Gun, he already turned into a kid once before with the Lucifer Bullet. What were the chances that he became one again?

Soon later, I showed Heihachi how to fly since he got hit with Lucifer as well and sprouted some wings. Unlike Sephiroth from KH, he actually had two wings. That samurai/woodchuck seemed to have some difficulty and I was getting impatient. I peered to the ground to see someone laughing. 'Laugh at me will ya?' I stirred up some Blizzard magic and formed it into a snowball then chucked it at him. I grinned evilly as I created a giant snowball and tossed it at the unfortunate victim. The snow war was declared by shoving the snowballed Kiako off the hill. It was on!

"AHAHAHAHA! Take this! METEOR SWARM: FLAMING TURKEY VERSION!"

The battle that took place became known as the War of Falling Flaming Frozen Turkeys! Not. Shortly after that little display, that Chronos guy who appeared in the forest earlier showed himself before us. It seemed like he wanted to join us. I didn't care anymore. If he wanted to use us to fight Creed, then I would use him the same way. My thought trail was rudely interrupted by Train jumping off the roof trying to fly for whatever reason and Cliff who broke another window because he didn't know how to use the door.

-8-0-8-

Upon reaching the temple's frigid entranceway, Seymour up and came outta nowhere and started attacking with a machina army. I was directed to go and send Shiva; Kiako sent along with me Kyouko and Train. That moron, of all the people to give me to fight with…

"Hey Kuro…" asked Train, "do we have to do another one of those trials?"

"Of course. There's one at every temple," I replied.

"Trial?" Kyouko was utterly confused. "Is it like a game?"

"Not quite. Kyouko, Train, please wait here and make sure no machina enter the temple while I go do the trial."

"Eeehh? No! Kuro! Don't leave me with her! I won't have anyone to hide behind!"

"Roger that!" saluted Kyouko. "As long as I'm with Kuro-sama, no matter what size he is, I still love him!"

"Ughm. Sure…" I said backing away slowly into the next door.

"KURO!"

"KURO-SAMA♥"

"AHH!" The door closed silently behind me.

I peered into the fogged up room. It was so white I couldn't see a thing. I took a step only to hear a cracking noise. 'The ice seems too unstable… I gotta find a way to remove this fog…' Taking out my weapon, I casted a light Aero spell to push the fog away so that I could see ahead a bit. However, the fog in the entire area just faded away. I figured Shiva knew I was here. "Diablos."

"Yes ma'am," he said from behind me.

"Can you still Oversoul with me even if your powers are gone?" I asked without turning around.

"I'm still a spirit aren't I? Though, since YOU have my powers I dunno how useful it'll be…"

"Oversoul!" The wings were all I needed. I leapt into the emptiness above and dove straight down shattering the thin ice. Down in the icy hell, I found… more emptiness. I heard a crackling noise high up at the ceiling when a large icicle seared through the air towards me. There wasn't enough time for me to dodge until something shoved me out of the way. I slipped across the ice and bashed my head against the wall, face first… My entire body was practically numb from the cold. I felt my forehead only to find redness dripping all over my left hand. I keeled over soon after.

-8-0-8-

I awoke to see a pair of bright yellow eyes staring back at me within a mass of darkness. Still in delusion, I said, "Ehhh, wassup doc?" Something moved my hand and smacked my head (which was already healed for some odd reason); I snapped together. "W-what…" I peered around the crowd of yellow dots.

"Sh-Shadow…?"

"We ArE… wHaT cReAtE sHaDoW… MeMoRiEs… LoSt…"

Their words… they weren't being spoken… I can _hear_ them, but not their voices… It was really nerve racking… "…Why did you save me?" I asked; my voice was, strangely, hesitant.

"YoU oNcE bOrE oUr NaMe… ShAdoWhEaRtLeSs…"

"That doesn't explain anything," I sighed.

"Since when did you ever need explaining?" A pair of crimson eyes appeared. "Seems like my dark power and your summoning capabilities brought forth a new skill."

As I stood up, the darkness receded revealing the ice pit I fell into where the giant icicle nearly skewered my guts. "Shadowheartless huh? Haven't used that name in a long time… How nostalgic."

"Let's figure out this trial. I have a feeling that… it won't be easy…" said Diablos.

"Oh, what gave you that idea?" I said sarcastically crossing my arms and peering around the vast number of cavern entrances across the walls.

"Alright, here we go!" He headed to one of the crystalline entrances and instantly crashed into an invisible barrier.

I slapped my forehead in dismay. "I'm doomed…"

After blasting my way through the illusionary walls, I arrived at YET another empty room. "DAMMIT WHERE THE HELL IS SHIVA?" I screamed; my voice echoing throughout.

"Kuro, if you yell that loud you might cause an avalanche…" whispered Diablos.

"We're not in the mountains you fool! Did my stealing away of your dark powers also take a chunk outta your intelligence?"

"This is close enough!" He grabbed my head and twisted it towards the endless ceiling. Something was diving down fast followed by giant blizzard. It slammed into the ice making a crater in the ground. As the fog cleared, I could see two people; Shiva who lay lifeless with a circular blade on a stick jammed into her, the other was…

"Tch, kill-stealer…" I mumbled.

"Miss Black Mage, if you would be so kind to send this Aeon…" said Ciel removing his weapon. I gave no reply and quickly muttered the hymn of the fayth. Shiva fled the area as pyreflies.

I gave a deep sigh. "Let's go, Diablos."

"Hold on--"

"I have to hurry and help Kiako fight the stupid machina sent by that girly man Seymour. I'll go on ahead; you can go chat as much as you want with your old pal over there."

"I am not old…" He gave a bow, "Nireciele Arailes, 19 years old, white wizard. It is a pleasure to meet--"

"Kuro Suzaku, 15 years old, black mage. GOTTA-GO-NOW-BYE!"

If it was one thing I learned from past experiences, it was that gentlemen talk too much.

_"Be sure to thank her for me, Deufelisci,"_ I heard Ciel say as I was making my way out the frozen maze.

_"I told you to stop calling me by that name." _ It was Diablos… He had another name? _"I'm Diablos."_

_"I, too, have assimilated a summon spirit shortly after my death; Fenrir had offered the choice to me."_

_"Hm… Fenrir suits you well. You always were a loner."_

_"Wolves work in packs, coyotes are the loners. And I thought you were the one who always worked alone."_

_"Geez, your intelligence probably matches Kuro's…"_

_"And your impudence also matches hers." _Impudent?! _"Regardless…"_

Their voices were then lost within the sounds of revving machina outside.

-8-0-8-

A/N: Exactly who are Diablos and Ciel? Even I'm not quite sure…


	5. Down Heaven

Final Fantasy Spiral

Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!

Chapter 5: Down Heaven

-8-0-8-

"Our battle will take place at the only area in Spira where I can be at full power. I'll be waiting."

-8-0-8-

Leaving Bevelle on Hao's Spirit of Fire after defeating Bahamut with Kiako and Kariudo, my group with the new member, Lin Shaolee, arrived at the Calm Lands. Somewhere along the giant crack in the ground, I was dangling off the side with a kid as the line between my life and death. Below me was a dark chasm with a few glints of pyreflies. How I ended up like this I don't even wanna know. However…

"Heeey Train! Kuro! You alright?" shouted Sven from high above. We were too far down to reach by hand.

"Yeah!" replied Train.

"No!" I retorted at the same time.

"Man I'm so hungry, I don't think I can hold on much longer…" groaned Train.

"HEY! We're in this position because you had to waste all of our Gil at that stupid Hypello's shop having an all-you-can-eat buffet and then you end up nearly fainting from hunger the next few days!"

"Well soorrry!"

" 'Sorry' doesn't bring back that money on the ten course meal just for you!" I barked.

"Why don't you use that Oversoul, Hao?" suggested Leon.

Hao shook his head. "For whatever reason, that crevice seems to disperse Furyoku or any sort of spiritual power. I can't use my Oversoul otherwise it will run out pretty quickly."

"Hm, so even Hao has his limits," Eve said with her sarcastic-ness.

"We have to hurry, they won't last forever there," said Shaolee. "Kuro-san can't summon right now…" Summon… I knew I recognized that area! Moreover, who was inside that place.

"Train, let go of me now," I ordered suddenly.

Everyone gasped and Sven protested, "What're you nuts?"

"If Train lets go of me, he'll be able to climb up on his own. Don't worry, it'll work out somehow."

"Oh, that's Asakura Yoh's favourite line," Hao noted. He also knew what I had to do down there. "You should do what she says, Train."

I noticed Train was about to continue arguing, but then stopped and agreed (because I threatened to never give him milk again). Sven was crying out and bashing Train with a truck load of complaints. Our hands parted and I was left sailing down to the end of the abyss. The last thing I saw from the light above was Train punching Sven in the face to shut him up.

-8-0-8-

I crashed into the cold hard ground somehow unwounded. Nothing else was around me except pitch black. I was lying on an island literally in the middle of nowhere!

"Ho, so you knew," came his voice echoing from within the darkness. "How did you find out that this crevice led to the Farplane?"

"I played FFX-2 and destroyed Spira."

"What?"

"It took more effort than saving it for some reason though. When Vegnagun shot some crazy beam from the depths of the Farplane, it showed a scene of the Calm Lands blowing up from that crack in the ground caused by a fight with Sin."

"Wow…"

"Yeah. So, you want your powers back now or something?"

"There's no need." Diablos emerged from the shadows in human form. "I've already regained them."

"But the powers in me…"

"…are yours for keeps. Learn to use them well." He drew the sword he found back at Kilika Temple and pointed it at me. "If you hope to get out of here alive, defeat me and bring me into your submission!"

"No need to say it, coal miner!" I smirked drawing my scythe.

Diablos immediately casted a spell. "Graviga!"

I was able to jump aside in time before it hit. I casted Firaga causing the entire place to go up in flames. When the flames died out, I had lost Diablos' position. By the time I could see him again, he had already got me by my arm. He executed the infamous 'Uncle Thwack' from Jackie Chan Adventures; a two finger smack to the head! "One more thing!" he shouted with Uncle's accent hurling me away.

"Ugh… What in the name of Hell kinda battle style is that!" I exclaimed shaking his fist.

"Hey, it works with Wakka."

"Tch, don't compare me with that idiot!" I snapped. "Flare!"

"Too slow!" Diablos slashed at my leg as I countered with a pierce to his arm. We both leapt back; me falling to one knee. "This isn't right, Kuro. You're submitting to me?"

"No way!" Using my sheer anger I stood up on both feet and attempted to cast a spell. Diablos tried to disrupt my spell with a quick Fira but ended up with water flushed into his face. I used this chance to try a pre-emptive attack.

"I said you're too slow!" My back sheared with pain as I spun around and blasted a Thundaga knocking him down to the ground. Falling on my back, I eventually flipped myself onto my knees, raised my scythe high and swung the blade down as hard as I could onto Diablos. He screamed out in pain like I'd never heard before causing me to draw back quickly. It was silent for a few moments until I lowered my weapon, assured of my victory. How was I gonna get outta here now? I suppose I forgot to ask that…

Suddenly Diablos' hand moved. He slowly raised himself up; his head lay low with his hair covering his eyes. He smiled and grabbed my neck… then rammed his sword through my body.

"Idiot… In a battle between life and death… never show mercy…" It felt like my life was gradually being sapped out of me leaving nothing left in me to reply, though in my head I was throwing random curses at him. "Looks like I win…"

I could hear my heartbeat slow down and my breaths shorten. My hand was trying to grasp what might be my last chance to turn the tides. I was shaking; whether in fear of death or pain of the blade stuck in me, I didn't really know. There was no way I would die; no way would I ever let him win! Diablos, you're mine! "Rebirth Flame!"

Taken by surprise, Diablos finally removed that confounded sword from me and leaped back to avoid the dark fire around me. In my hand was the Phoenix Down that was always on my mantle; my wounds were all healed. I picked up my weapon and rested it on my shoulder and said, "I assure you, I am showing you no mercy." The flames that were searing around me became my wings.

Diablos chuckled; the lethal wound I had inflicted earlier was practically healed. "Looks like I couldn't complete the Drain spell, but this'll do." He transformed into his original appearance and took flight high above me. I could hardly see him since the background was all black. He dug his claw into the darkness and forced it at me!

"What the hell!" I shouted and evaded the dark spike that flew down. Many others started showering one right after another. Some had barely missed as I soared through the darkness towards my target and the rest I had to slash away. Time to use my favourite spell! "O countless falling stars come forth! Meteor Storm!"

With the abyss lit by the raging falling hunks of rock and ice, and filled with strings of… who knows what that black stuff was, we continued the battle in the air rising higher with each strike; mine not doing a thing to his armoured claws. Magic didn't seem to work much either and I was practically at my limit.

I was becoming very exhausted and my flame wings wouldn't hold out much longer. Diablos stopped attacking, backed off and laughed. "I would've thought your Phoenix form would be a little more than this. Looks like you're done kid."

"Diablos… behind you, behind you…" I gasped meekly pointing to the impending rock of doom.

"Stupid. Like I'm gonna fall for tha--!" Too late. The last meteor impacted his wings and damaged it severely.

"Haha! Who's stupid now--" I mocked him before getting dragged down by that impudent devil by the leg. "Whaugh! L-let go!"

"I would if I could still fly!" he cried.

"Dammit! My wings are out of fuel, moron!"

"Then have some coal!" I felt an object smack my head.

"I don't need your coal! And for the last time, let go of me!"

"Do you seriously think you can survive this fall?"

"What does that have to do with tearing my leg off? You're a million times heavier than me!" I retorted.

"I know!" Diablos got an idea! "Let's Oversoul!" Terrible idea!

"Unable to use Furyoku here!" I grumbled in a panicky annoyed voice.

"Blast the ground to--!"

"Insufficient MP!"

"Then you try and think of--!"

"Out of ideas! And soon HP! And why do I have to do everything you bastard!" I blabbered quickly.

"Alright then, _I'll_ make sure we don't hit the ground. Just leave it to me. ♥" Something worse then my death was coming… I could just feel it… And with that heart at the end of his sentence… Grabbing hold of me and shielding me with his wings, he chanted, _"O claws of death, pry open the gates from this realm to the next! Hell Fissure!"_

-8-0-8-

I sat on the floating rock that was sailing through… a cross between lava and a graveyard. I glared at the smiling devil. I was in Hell.

"Welcome?" Diablos said. I said nothing with a dead look on my face. "Oh are you still mad at me for trying to protect you in the Fissure?" Still, I said nothing; same dead-looking face. "If I hadn't protected you, you would've been cremated!" Still silent.

I suddenly burst out crying in fetal position. "I am stuck with a devil that uses _hearts_ at the end of his sentences! I'm 'Game Over'-ed for!"

"… If I knew that you'd go insane like this I should have let you burn to ashes…weird kid…"

I took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm alright now. Speaking of which, I'm alright? My wounds are gone."

"That's cause you're dead, Kuro."

"As I thought…" The rock we were riding came to a halt at the…um… shore.

"Ah, we're home"

"What d'you mean _we_?" I scowled. We arrived at what seemed to be his house… And he called me weird? What kinda home looked like a giant mushroom with caves in it and a bunch of platforms sticking out of the middle pillar?

"Kuro?" Diablos waved his human hand in front of me. I finally snapped to reality. "I appreciate you admiring my house, but can we go inside now? Let's get something to eat," he said grabbing my arm and dragging me in.

"Food exists in Hell?" First step in was a staircase… going downwards… "And if you don't stop pulling, I'm gonna trip!"

"Food does exist. Hell really is just a name for this chaotic realm of death. Really, anything could exist here… except for a way out!" he smiled.

"WHAT?"

-8-0-8-

I stared at my dinner and my surroundings. They looked so unusually _normal_… in the sense that, of course, nothing was really out of place… like there were none of those weird death spikes you'd see in Mario or something. I was at like a home from the old medieval days with crimson coloured stone walls. The place was lit with floating flames on a ledge jutting out of those walls. It seemed like an odd yet comfortable place to live. I still couldn't help but feel like something was _wrong_. Perhaps it was just paranoia?

"You gonna eat?" Diablos mumbled with his mouth full. Perhaps it was just him that's wrong… "I tried cooking the same stuff you do, so there shouldn't be any complaints right?"

"Y-yeah…" I began eating what looked to be a normal meal from my house.

"I was serious when I said there was no way out."

"Then… How did you get out?"

"You summoned me. In the living world, the gates of Hades can be opened; on this side, it's impossible. Otherwise there would be no meaning to death if you could just easily escape into the living world." He chomped on another piece of chicken. "It's either that or I just wasn't looking hard enough."

"Hell is just a mass of chaos… so there really isn't a limit to how much this place can be explored," I said pondering.

"Exactly… This is one of the safer areas, no monsters or fiends come here."

"This is just too weird…"

"_Everything _is weird to you," Diablos scoffed.

After dinner I explored more around Diablos' place while he went to sleep somewhere. With our crazy duel and dragging me to Hell, it's no wonder he was tired. This place was really boring until I found a hidden crevice big enough for me to fit through. Out of curiosity and boredom, I went in. It led to a dimly lit area with many shadows protruding out that didn't seem to come from anything. It gave the empty room a very eerie feeling… What was creepier was that the room was completely silent that I could hear myself breathing. Wait… was that _my_ breathing?

Turning around I realized that the crack in the wall had disappeared. A familiar beast I had encountered long ago was standing before me. "Fenrir…" I said quietly. "Wait a sec…"

"It has been a while, Kuro…" said the wolf, "ever since that day."

"I met a Fang Beast that day though… I think… Dammit I can't remember."

"We were both there. Your other friends killed him while you were fighting and came to rescue you thinking I was him. Perhaps I should apologize for trying to kill you," he said calmly.

"No, don't apologize. Sorry about Fang Beast though."

"It is fine. He was not a very obedient pet anyways. Heheh." Fenrir reverted back to his human form. "It has been a while, Kuro…"

"You already said that, Ciel," I scowled.

"Heh, so you knew. I am guessing you heard it back at Macalania Temple," he said smiling. Are all people from Hell this freakishly happy? But wait, this guy's a White Wizard.

"There's a lot I would like to ask, but most importantly," I said crossing my arms. "why are you here?"

Ciel replied, "I should be asking _you_ that question, Kuro-san. You suddenly appeared in the teleportation chamber… in Hell I might add. Did Diablos drag you down here?"

"That's not even the half of it…" I sighed shaking my head. Suddenly something heavy appeared and crushed me to the ground.

"Ciel, I can't find Kuro anywhere. Where the heck could she be? And you're new carpet is really lumpy--!" Diablos had finally realized and stepped off of me. "There you are! 'The hell're you doin' on the floor?"

"I'd like to know that myself…" I managed to croak; my head spinning. Standing up, I asked again, "Ciel, as a White Wizard, why are you in Hell?"

Ciel chuckled. "Hell is where all spirits return. Or rather, Hell is merely a section of this infinite plane. I have been dead for quite a long time, so would it not be natural for me to be here?"

"Blah, blah blah you talk too much Ciel," said Diablos. "Using needless words and wasting valuable time trying to act cool…"

"I'm much more sophisticated than you, you fool, so shut the hell up!" blurted Ciel.

Diablos and I just gawked at him. Awkward silence… "Let's pretend that never happened."

Ciel cleared his throat. "Due to the presence of darkness within Hell, it seems you've recovered a bit of your magic. However it would be best to leave before it's affected your mind."

"Too late…" I muttered giving my evil glare to Diablos.

He glared back with an 'It's not my fault' look.

I came back with my look of 'I'm going to kill you.'

He returned it with 'I could kill you ten times over!'

'My Meteor Storm owns all and you know it!'

'You were just lucky!'

"If you two are done your staring contest, perhaps I could send you back now, Kuro…" said Ciel looking at us as if we were both insane.

I came back to reality and said, "Yeah. I'll see ya later coal miner!" I smiled sarcastically and waved.

"For the last time, I'm not a coal miner!"

"Heheh," laughed Ciel. "Exactly what had been going on when I was absent?"

"This delusional girl here has mistaken me for someone else."

I crossed my arms. "Sorry Diablos, when you're in my world, you're a coal miner."

"Do you mean Earth or your crazy little head?" he grumbled. Both, haha.

As Ciel put forth his lantern-staff and flames spread from it opening a portal. "Here, this should bring you back to Spira. I bid you farewell," waved Ciel.

I stepped through the bridge to the living world.

-8-0-8-

A/N: Heaven is "up" so, the other has to be "down." …Right?


	6. How Old?

Final Fantasy Spiral

Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!

Chapter 6: How Old?

-8-0-8-

Damn… I was all the way back at Moonflow… UNDERWATER! I hastily tried to find the shore and grabbed onto whatever I could find. Unfortunately it was someone's leg. The person freaked out and kicked me back. I drew my scythe in attempt to use it to anchor myself to land. Another person jumped in and dragged me back up by my scythe.

"Hey, are you okay?" the guy asked me.

"Fine," I coughed.

"What the hell were you doing in the water in the first place?" demanded the other guy who kicked me in. "I thought you were like a monster or something!"

"Luke! At the very least apologize for kicking this poor girl back into the water!" Poor…?

"What! She's the one who almost dragged me in!"

"Really, it's alright, geez…" I sighed. I turned to the person who saved me. "And thanks for saving me--" The guy jumped back. "… …I assure you, I'm not a monster."

"I-it's not that…" he said shaking.

"He's just terrified of women, don't mind him," said a girl who carried some doll on her back.

"Wow," I said sarcastically surprised.

"In any case," said a blue man with glasses, "We are currently lost on our way to a place called Baticul. However, it seems that no one here knows of it. Perhaps you may be of some assistance?"

"What makes you think I know it anymore than anyone else?" I said. "Is Baticul some weird lost city or something?"

"Hmm… As I thought…" said the man.

"So we really have travelled to another world," said a lady with long brown hair.

"No! We can't be! This has got to be a mistake! We were so close to going home!" whined the red haired guy… Luke was it? I wondered if he wielded a light-sabre.

"If you're all from a different world then I won't be any help," I said sternly. "I need to go meet up with my friends at the Calm Lands before they all think I died."

"My, what nice friends you have," said the man with glasses with a hint of sarcasm. He was merely smiling without a care.

"I guess. I suppose I'll be off. Thanks again for saving me--" As I was about to take a step, the ground started to rumble and the lake or pond or whatever it was started to deform and transform into a sea serpent much resembling Leviathan but made of water. It gave a ferocious roar and the citizens started running and screaming. I drew my scythe and readied a spell.

"O mighty explosion... Energy Blast!" A burst of light exploded in the fiend's face as it reared back for an attack.

"Thundaga!" After the lightning flares stopped, the man with glasses dashed in and raised his spear.

"Feel lightning! Lightning Tempest!" Streams of thunder clashed with each other causing much damage.

Enraged, the serpent sent out streams of water from its body at everyone. The long haired lady sang some song and a force field protected us for just enough time to let me cast another Thundaga. Archer girl kept shooting her arrows as Luke was trying to counter the serpent's attacks. The guy who feared women was also dodging the serpent's streams of water and countering with techs that I somewhat recognize. Geez, what an agile person… I peered over to my right to see the girl riding her fighting doll… that grew about 10 metres! What was with these people? After the spell with a French name from the lady struck it, the serpent finally receded back into the lake.

"Yahoo!" cheered the girl. I noticed an unusual bit of water in the lake creep upwards.

"It's not over!" I shouted. The water bit grew into a great sphere-like object and glowed. "Ahh… You're kidding me… A Spherimorph?"

"O twisted doors open wide--"

"Wait!" I stopped the girl. "It's changed its elemental properties! That spell might heal it!"

"I can't go on any more!" shouted Luke exhausted on the ground. Everyone else seemed to be getting worn out as well. Things were looking bad.

"Damn, this Spherimorph should've been dead by now… I'm already out of MP?… Dammit!" I muttered. Seems like I didn't recover much back in Hell.

"Then allow me," said the man with glasses stepping past me. He raised his hand and began to chant, "O admonishing melody… Arise in the name of the necromancer!" Bands of light swirled about the fiend in a sphere shape and closed in on it. "Mystic Cage!" The light exploded as I shielded my eyes from the blinding flash. When my vision cleared, I saw pyreflies soar away from the spot where the fiend was. I was completely astonished at his power.

"Whoo! Go colonel!" praised the girl.

"I-I coulda defeated that monster!" said Luke crossing his arms still sitting on the ground.

"Riiiight… You had it just where you wanted…" said the other guy sarcastically.

"I'm glad none of the citizens were hurt," said the archer lady.

"You…" said the other lady to me. "You seemed to know quite a bit about this monster."

"I've fought one like it in the past," I replied referring to my playing of FFX. "This one seems unusually stronger for that type. I'm wondering if the fiends here have evolved since then…" Or maybe it was because of the Aeons still being here… I had no clue. "Well, now that that's over with I'll be heading on my way." Just as I was about to march off, the glasses guy grabbed the collar of my shirt.

"Now now, you shouldn't just run off after we saved you. That would be very rude," he said smiling.

"Then what do you want in return? Money?" I saw the little girl behind me perk up.

"How about an introduction for starters?"

"Kuro. Nice to meet you. Now may I please go?" I was getting impatient and slapped the man's hand away. "If you want something from me, take all my money!" I reached into my pocket and felt nothing but air. "What the hell! I left it with that son-of a-black-hole for food! Stupid…" I shook my head.

"Aww…" The girl whined. "I wanted the money…"

"Forget what Jade said. Really, you don't have to repay us, Kuro," said that guy.

"Guy, you're too nice to women," said Jade. "One day they'll take advantage of you for that."

I seemed to somewhat figure out what this Jade guy wanted. With all his stalling me, he probably wanted me to join in their hunt for this Baticul place… But I needed to make sure. "I MUST leave NOW. State what you want and let's be over with it," I announced.

"Oooh I know, the colonel wants to get to know her" cooed the girl.

"My!" gasped the archer woman.

"What, are you serious?" I said sternly.

"Yes. I would like to know more about the fonic artes you use. They are quite different than what we have, yet I was able to initiate an FoF change," stated Jade.

"Oh, was that all?" said the girl. Hey I don't know her name yet! I can't help calling her 'the girl.'

I gave in trying to get outta here. A Hypello walked up to me and handed me some Gil. "Eh? What's this?"

"Shorry for chaykeeng ze gilibible. Ish not mine choo chake. We ish poor, sho we shell ridez for ze Shoopuf."

Everyone was quite dumbfounded. I took a crack at translating. I said the words a little choppy however. "Sorry for taking the gil. Is not mine for me to take. We is poor so we sell rides for the shoopuf."

"What the hell is this blue dude?" asked Luke pointing at the creature.

"A Hypello," I answered simply. "Well, it's alright. I'll take enough for a stay at the inn in Guadosalam, you can keep the rest."

"Shaaankyeeuuu." He waved and then happily skipped off. Guess my luck with money wasn't so bad after all.

"I am surprised you could understand him…" said Jade referring to the Hypello.

"Yeah… They were…" started the guy.

"…rather odd fellows…" finished archer lady.

"I thought they were kind of cute…" whispered the long haired lady.

"Now that we have some money, let's go to an inn already! I'm so tired!" whined Luke.

"Okay okay, come on."

-8-0-8-

We arrived at Guadosalam's inn sometime in the evening. After some proper introductions, I explained to Jade and the others about how this world worked and what Magic was. I had an idea of what series they came from. It was 'Tales of…' for sure, but which? With a spell that shiny it had to have been one of the later ones.

"One more thing," said Luke.

"You've asked me over a million questions," I scorned. "What more do you want from me?"

"This will be the last one for sure."

"You said that 10 questions ago! In any case, what?"

"Are you not from this world?" interrupted Jade.

Luke got all pissed. "H-hey!"

"That's right, I'm not from Spira. I'm trying to restore order to the worlds and return to my own if even possible."

"If I had the technology Dist used to bring us here, I might be able to open portals with Luke's hyper-resonance. But, sadly it seems like it was a one way trip," Jade sighed.

"Huh, so it was someone from _your_ side that's screwing some things up. Remind me to beat the technology in his face if I ever meet him," I said. "Kiako'll be glad this one's not her fault."

"What's a Kiako?" asked Luke pickin' his ear.

"The cause of much of my grief…" I answered. "Another portion comes from other sources and soon another."

"Wait, you're not talking about me are you?" said Luke.

"If it makes you feel any better, you all give me grief."

"Do I give you grief too?" said a squeaky little voice. A small creature popped out of Luke's travel bag.

"Shut up, Thing!" growled Luke trying to shove the poor… thing back into the bag. A muffled 'mieuuuu' was heard.

"…I don't even wanna know…" I sighed deeply.

-8-0-8-

I got up early, which wasn't something I normally do, and crept out to the front door Metal Gear Solid style in attempt to escape. I almost made it out until… "!" Jade caught me. I always sucked at MGS…

"I gave you all the info you need. What more do you want?" I cried.

"If it's alright with you, we'd like to travel with you to wherever you need to go," said Jade.

"Do we have to?" whined Luke.

"Come on, Luke! If we don't go with her, who knows when we'll get outta here," said Anise with her hands at her hip.

"She has a point," said Guy. "Kuro knows more about this world than any of us."

"Alright right do whatever you want," I said without argue. "We're headed through the Thunder Plains so you'd all better be prepared. Lightning dodging isn't easy."

"My, is that even possible?" asked Natalia.

"Just don't be an idiot and stand around open areas. The one most likely to get struck is Jade since he's tallest."

Jade smiled. "Then I will be sure to use Luke as my lightning rod."

"W-why me?" retorted Luke.

"Come on. Let's not keep Kuro waiting any more than we need to," said Tear in her usual seriousness.

Off to the plains of doom where no matter how many times you get struck, you can never die… What? Tidus is still alive ain't he?

-8-0-8-

In the eternally raining Thunder Plains where no day light ever reached the ground, everyone except Jade and I were frantically trying to dodge the lightning strikes. I had no problems since I was used to them from my first visit here. Jade was cheating somehow because none were targeting him at all. Guy had most difficulty since whenever he jumped to dodge a lighting bolt he'd sometimes jump near one of the females by mistake and then freak out. After reaching the half way point, we rested once again at Rin's Travel Agency to dry our clothes.

"Man! That was brutal! Isn't there an easier way through this place?" protested Luke.

"Unless you want to spend weeks travelling around this entire continent by ship, then no," I merely replied.

"Really? I find this trip rather fun," said Jade in a strangely happy tone.

"Fun for you; you haven't been struck once at all," said Guy drying his hair.

"The people here were at least kind enough to lend us some dry clothing," said Natalia.

Anise moaned, "Yeah but we got such a crappy room."

"It couldn't be helped," said Tear. "We don't have much money."

"Oooh don't say that Tear… Being broke really sucks!"

"What's with that serious look…" said the guy at the counter. "…Kuro…"

I sighed and replied, "I'm just—Hey, how do you know my name?" The man took off his hat and Al Bhed goggles revealing those crimson eyes of doom I'd know anywhere. "W-why are you here!" I exclaimed pointing at him.

"Hm? Is he your boyfriend?" asked Jade.

"No, just a pain in the--"

"Is that what you say after I was polite enough not to give your new friends heart attacks?" said Diablos. "In any case, I'm just temporarily here cuz the other guy's on a break."

"You sure you didn't kill him instead?" I said eyeing him suspiciously.

"Would your boyfriend do such a thing?" asked Natalia.

I drew my scythe and bonked Diablos on the head with the blunt side causing him to revert into his full form. "Not a boy; he's a DE-VIL."

"Oww… Sheesh, you're such a meanie…" said Diablos in a lower voice rubbing his head with his giant claw. Suddenly, footsteps came from the far end of the hallway. "Crap! Mr.Manager'll think I'm a monster if he sees me!"

"You ARE a monster you idiot…" I muttered to myself.

"I'll let the others know you're still alive!" And he took off through the ceiling.

"…I have such great friends don't I?…" I muttered with a sarcastic tone staring at the gaping hole from which the rain was pouring through. The 'manager' was merely a random customer who ran off in terror. I don't believe it… he actually… I grabbed the customer guy's arm and demanded an explanation. He said the manager was actually a swindler and some maniac was crazy enough to dispose of the criminal. Heh, go figure. Diablos is always looking for an excuse to send someone to Hell.

"Just… who was that guy?" asked Luke about Diablos.

"To put it simply, he's a Guardian Force, a summon spirit. This world calls them Aeons. None the less, they're sentient creatures capable of different abilities," I explained matter-of-factly.

"My, how knowledgeable," remarked Jade.

"Wow, this is the first time I've seen Jade give a compliment," said Guy.

"Exactly how many worlds have you travelled to?"

I thought for a moment… "Around five or so. I know more worlds out there however."

"Hm? How can you know more than you have visited?" Why must I open my big mouth…

"Hey are we playing thousand questions again?" I scowled.

"My apologies. I was merely curious." Jade said. Everyone else seemed so too. Might as well.

"I'm just a random person from Earth who happened to get transported here by the mistake of an idiot. Though I wouldn't say our technology is as advanced (…or environmentally friendly) as the ones here, we have a lot of information stored across the globe. Mind you that my world is much bigger than Spira for sure."

"How old are you?" asked Luke suddenly. "You look like my age but you act like you're as old as Jade!"

"Luke! That's not a question you should be asking a woman!" scolded Natalia.

"If you really wanna know, try and guess."

"Seventeen?" guessed Luke.

"Twenties at least…" said Guy.

"No, she's too flat-chested to be that old!" said Anise. That little…

"Haha, Anise, you shouldn't say stuff like that," laughed Guy. "She's still older than you no matter the size."

My death aura was at its peek of fury. Insult or not, I absolutely HATE being talked about my looks. To me, it was like saying the only thing of worth is my hunk of flesh and bone, nothing else. It was an insult either way. I growled like a bloodthirsty beast, "Ten seconds…"

"Huh?" Guy and Anise were a bit confused.

"Ten…" I put my hand forth and charged up for Ultima. They got the message and attempted to dart out the door. Anise accidently tackled Guy who screamed.

"AHH! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!"

"DON'T CALL ME AN 'IT!'"

"9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-FIRE!"

"AHHHH!" they both screamed in terror. The others were quite horrified as well with those OMG looking anime faces. Even Jade seemed mildly surprised.

"I'm kidding," I said bluntly as I lowered my arm. "You don't know me well enough to die by my hands. Just watch your mouths next time."

"…W-we'll be sure to remember that," said everyone except Jade. He looked like he was enjoying all this…

"Thanks. And for the record, your guesses were way off."

"Does that mean you're really in your thirties?" asked Jade smiling away.

"NO!" I bawled.

-8-0-8-

A/N: I used to go to the movies occasionally with my friends. We would compare our movie tickets and for some odd reason, mine usually said 'Adult.' Bah, whatever. I'm smarter than the average person anyway.


	7. Tear of the Black Phoenix

Final Fantasy Spiral

Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!

Chapter 7: Tear of the Black Phoenix

-8-0-8-

When everyone prepared to go to sleep after we repaired the roof, I pulled out my laptop and searched up info on who these new morons to torture—I mean who these people that wanted to follow me were. It seemed they were from a planet called Auldrant of Tales of the Abyss. "As I thought…" I whispered to myself. "Guess I might as well e-mail Kiako or Kariudo or something and let them know what's up."

"Why are you still up?" asked Jade quietly. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"It's still early. I'm used to being deprived of sleep," I replied still staring at the screen. "Shouldn't _you_ be asleep? No fiends go near the inn (for whatever reason) so you don't have to worry."

"You're still a growing child. It's not very healthy for you to be up this late. Youngsters do need their sleep."

… It was still early! For me anyways… "Being around idiots isn't healthy for me either, but I suppose it can't be helped," I said impatiently finishing up the e-mail and shutting down my laptop. "Shouldn't you be asleep? Old men do need their sleep."

"It's quite hard to sleep with all those tapping noises," he said referring to my typing.

"Sorry. Good night."

Who in their right mind says 'youngsters' these days?

-8-0-8-

The next morning… or whatever time of day it was… It rained all the time except in that one part of FFX-2. That was totally retarded. How could a simple concert cause THE Thunder Plains to stop thundering? Luke was once again groaning about having to walk through another half of rain. Though, the others were also annoyed. About half way between Macalania Forest and the travel agency…

"This rain just never stops does it?" said Anise peering out from behind one of the lightning towers.

"It'd be the end of the world if rain stopped at the Thunder Plains," I told her.

"R-really?" said Natalia surprised.

"She was being sarcastic, Natalia," said Luke. "Can we go now? I wanna get out as soon as possible."

"Man, I seriously don't wanna go through this again…" said Guy scratching his head.

"Is there really no way around the area?" asked Tear.

I have an annoyed sigh trying to hold in my rage. "Either go through or stay here the rest of your lives. Your pick. If you're all that scared of the lightning, I could direct all of them to me by using my weapon as a lightning rod."

"Wouldn't you get electrocuted?" asked Jade pushing up his glasses.

"Of course. My weapon may lower the amperage to the point that it's not harmful, but the voltage would really hurt."

"There's no way we can allow you to do that," said Natalia. "It's much too dangerous."

"Then quite yer yammerin' and let's get going. The end isn't too far."

"Looks like someone got off on the wrong side of the bed…" said Anise.

-8-0-8-

Finally after a long hour of pain, we finally made it out. I had never seen it rain that hard nor have that much lightning. Maybe I just had bad luck and the storm just happened to strengthen overnight. In any case, we were out and that was all that mattered… Into Macalania Forest—again—and to the same camping ground at the lake as when I came here last time… Fortunately but unfortunately, everyone was fine except for me. I came down with a cold… Damn my weak immune system… DAMN ME I SAY!

"Kuro, are you alright?" asked Mieu worried.

"Just a cold…" I muttered. "We might have to stick around a little longer than the other times…"

"That seems like a good idea, after going through all that rain and lightning," said Jade.

"Man, isn't there like a hotel near by? I haven't seen any in this world… Is everyone THIS poor?" Great… More Luke whining… Juuust what I needed…

I felt rather weary trying to speak; it hurt my throat a bit too. "This world used to be quite technologically advanced, but due to a war, much machinery was banned. It can't be helped. As for a hotel, you're outta luck out here."

"That really sucks… I just wanna get home…"

"We all do Luke," said Tear, "so stop complaining already."

"I miss my home too Master… mieuu…"

Luke stood up and kicked it. "Nobody asked you." While he and Mieu were squabbling, Tear and Natalia were trying to calm them down. Guy was also attempting to calm everyone down.

Anise asked me, "Kuro, you're looking real sick…"

"Yes, it seems you've come down with quite the cold," Jade said.

"We're close to the Calm Lands where my friends are supposed to be. Doesn't seem like we'll be reaching there any time soon…" I laid back and torpidly stared at the stars above. They reminded me of Hao, the starriest person I ever knew. Everything was spinning and my breathing was harsh. Stupid asthma… It was too bad that my physical strength did not match my intellect. Soon, I fell asleep without even realizing it.

-8-0-8-

The next day, nothing much really happened. Mieu offered me some medicinal herbs he had for whenever he got hungry. "Thanks Mieu. They taste awful, but thanks," I said trying to smile and pet Mieu.

"No problem, Kuro!" said Mieu happily. Everyone eyeballed me rather strangely as if they saw a ghost or something.

I merely blinked. "What? Are these poisonous or something?"

"No," said Jade. "It's just…"

"We've just never seen you _smile_," said Anise surprised.

"Yeah, you're actually a really nice person," Guy said laughing.

I went back to evil mode. "Don't get used to it," I growled and Guy laughed nervously.

-8-0-8-

Another day had passed by. It was late in the afternoon and my health seemed to be restored for the most part. "Can we leave now then?" whined Luke impatiently walking around in circles while Mieu was dancing around behind him.

"Do you still need to rest, Kuro?" asked Tear. I paused for a moment before replying.

"—Well then let us be off now, shall we?" Jade spurted before I could say anything.

"Um, yeah I'm doing fine thank you," I muttered.

"Yes, it is great to be able to move on again. I am glad your health has recovered," said Natalia.

"Let's go then," said Guy.

"Just be aware of the fiends here; they have water attributes," I warned everyone. "It's different from ice so don't go using fire based attacks, got it?"

"Roger that!" saluted Anise, Mieu, Diablos… Wait what the hell?

"Why does this thing keep showing up?" scowled Luke glaring at the devil. "I've been seeing it for the last few days now!"

"That's a very good question Luke. Why ARE you here?" I demanded.

"I'm BORED. Killing fiends is not fun at all you know," he protested. "I had to keep 'em away while you were ill."

"Hm, I wondered why nothing attacked us…" I said rubbing my chin. "Okay, new plan--" My head was suddenly in the ground.

"No way," said Diablos. "If you can barely take care of yourself don't even think about going through the forest alone."

I quickly got up and smashed the crystal end of my staff into Diablos' head. "Let me freakin' finish my sentence before you do that you moron! I was gonna say 'Use my Oversoul to carry all of us' so that we wouldn't hafta WALK!" After all that shouting I broke into a coughing fit. When I recovered, I found that we were surrounded by hundreds of fiends from Water Elementals to those floating fish. "…Well this sucks…"

Luke drew his sword. "I'll take you all down!"

"Forget that! Let's just fly!" I shouted. "Grab the person nearest to you and do NOT let go!"

"Kuroa Ryuo Zue Toue Ryuo Rei Neu Ryuo Zue…" Tear sang as a force field shielded us from a bunch of Waterga spells.

"Come on!" Anise said offering her hand to Guy. He quivered and back away.

"Dammit now's not the time!" Luke grabbed Guy's arm who then grabbed Jade's who grabbed Tear's who grabbed Natalia's who grabbed Anise's. I took Luke and the line of everyone, powered my Oversoul and ascended to the sky fast enough to escape the fiends' grasp but slow enough to ensure no one would fall. "Gnhaa! Can't you go any faster? My arms--!"

"Do you want to fall off?" I said, straining my voice. "Just hold on!"

"I can't!" I felt Luke's grip lessen so I poured the rest of my power in the Oversoul and increased the size so everyone could ride on the back. As everyone panted and sighed in relief, I was trying to prevent myself from going unconscious. It seemed that my illness weakened my Furyoku level. My frustration also seemed to affect it.

After finally arriving, I instantly collapsed. Before I let anyone open their mouths, I assured them I was okay and needed rest. It was evening now and the stars were out. "Oi Kuro! This isn't the time!" exclaimed Diablos.

"I'm out of Fuyroku!" I snapped hold my head. I peered forward to see Spirit of Fire trying to hold off a ton of fiends that I haven't seen before. "Come on everyone! We have to help Hao-sama. I'm sure my other friends are with him."

"There're other people there too! How do we know who they are?" said Luke.

I sighed in annoyance. "Hao-sama is riding on the giant red thing; Leon-san has a sword; Train has a gun and donuts on his shirt; Sven has a suitcase that doubles as a gun; Eve can transform; Shaolee has some killer piece of cloth. If you encounter a cat, don't kill it. That good enough?"

"Uh…"

"Alright. Let's go."

"Are you sure you are even alright enough to fight?" asked Natalia.

"If you don't want to risk shortening your life, I suggest you stay back," said Tear.

"I think I'm more likely to die if you all just leave me here," I said then jumped off the ledge and charged into battle.

Each time I took down an enemy, it would regenerate unless completely destroyed. "Firaga!" "Blizzaga!" "Thundaga!" One after another after another! This seemed endless!

"Suffer within this oppressive force! Gravity Well!" The beasts fell to the ground unable to move.

"O light that rains down on heaven and earth, bring my enemies to their destined annihilation! Fortune's Arc!" Giant pillars of light came crashing down incinerating every last one in the area. When the light died down, I eyed a silhouette of a man pointing a gun at…

"HAO-SAMA!"

-8-0-8-

I was hanging off of one of the claws from Hao's armoured Oversoul, Kurobina. Jade and Tear were both easily beaten and left when I forcefully ordered them to help the others. I heard a maniacal laughter from behind me. "How does it feel to be killed by one of your own comrades? No matter whom it is, once my Perfect Lucifer bullet strikes, they'll keep attacking until they die! HAHAHAHA!"

'I didn't know you were so weak to be susceptible to a measly bullet…' I raised my scythe and stabbed him where the bullet had pierced. Dark flares from my hand entered him as I dropped my weapon.

"Heh! Whatever you do is useless mage woman! Kill her!" Instead, Kurobina dissipated leaving Hao unconscious and bloody on the cold land. "What the hell did you do?"

I glared at the freakish Doctor wanting him to suffer my pain. "Shadows… eat him…" A legion of Heartless Shadows formed below the man as he tried to hop and escape their grasp. "Such a pathetic fool… Who's useless now, bastard?" I grinned evilly as I watched him squirm helplessly in the puddle of darkness sinking into its abyss. The beasts within the rest of the Calm Lands also fell to the darkness. I glanced back to Hao and sat down wincing at the gash he gave me. I took out one of my cheap Cure Rings and used some to close my wound the best I could and the rest in attempt to heal Hao.

Suddenly something heavy was on my shoulders. "Kuro" I didn't budge. "No reaction…?"

"Is he still…alive?"

Diablos crawled over to the side of me and flinched at the sight of my tears. "Y-You're…!"

I got mad and turned away. A few moments later I heard some whispering.

(Anise) "Aww, she's not so heartless after all."

(Luke) "Anise! You'll blow our cover!"

(Natalia) "Luke, I cannot believe you!"

(Jade) "Isn't it great being young?"

(Tear) "Colonel, not you too…"

(Guy) "You people are horrible…"

Elsewhere…

(Leon) "Will you guys stop already?"

(Sven) "That's right Train! It's not gentlemanly to watch a girl cry!"

(Train) "You're watching too!"

(Eve) "It's sad to see this."

(Shaolee) "Indeed…"

As the sun broke the horizon, Hao's eyes slowly opened as he woke up.

"Okaeri, Hao-sama," I said returning to my usual face.

He smiled and replied, "…Tadaima."

A few moments later, something was shooting towards us from above. The three of us stood up and leapt out of the way. "….aaaaaaAAAAHHH!" KABOOM! Everyone who was hiding behind rocks came out to see what sort of object just crashed into the ground. "Hi…ya?"

-8-0-8-

A/N: You thought you'd seen the last of Wakka eh?


	8. Sandy Lands

Final Fantasy Spiral

Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!

Chapter 8: Sandy Lands

-8-0-8-

"I'm quite sure he floated away from Kilika…" said Hao a bit startled at Wakka's sudden appearance. All of us were actually.

"Sir Kuro! I finally got to see Sir Kiako and now Sir Kuro ya? I must be the luckiest man in all of Spira! Oh thank Yevon for blessing me with such--!"

"OH SHUT THE HELL UP!" I screamed punching him in the noggin but wincing from the pain of my own wound. And here I thought he was gone for good… "Tell me, where'd you see Kiako?"

"But Sir Kuro! You're bleeding!"

"TELL ME NOW!" I demanded.

"Y-yessir!" he said saluting. "I saw her… in a big ship that flies!"

"She was in an airship."

"And I came by to say hello to her!"

"You crashed into the window and knocked the ship off course."

"Then a bunch of giant black birdies came to say hi to everyone too!" he cheered no longer saluting.

"A flock of Zu attacked the ship and now they're shipwrecked somewhere."

"Then I came to say hi to Sir Kuro!"

"You fell off the airship and plummeted here. Good job. Now good bye." I booted him into the sky with a Firaga and out of my sight. "At least he served some purpose this time."

Diablos looked at me awkwardly. "How… did you get all that from what Wakka said?"

"If you hang around idiots long enough, you eventually learn their language," said Leon. I nodded firmly. "So, where do you suppose they're at?"

"The closest area for a Zu to be hanging around would be Bikanel."

"Whohoo we're going on vacation!" cheered Anise.

"This isn't a field trip you know," scolded Luke. "We're still trying to get back home."

"Bikanel _Desert_. I can hardly call that place a vacation spot," I said. "The oasis is pretty nice though."

"How do we get there?" asked Shaolee.

"How else?" said an unknown voice. It sounded almost like Luke but…

"Asch!" exclaimed Luke and Natalia. I regarded the Luke-look-alike who was dressed in all black with red patterns all around. He had long red hair and green eyes just like Luke.

"This is all your fault dreck! If you hadn't stupidly used your hyper-resonance like that, we wouldn't be in this place!" shouted Asch at Luke completely ignoring Natalia.

"So this is MY fault?" he blurted in complaint.

Jade tried to stop the redheads from getting any redder. "Now now, calm down. Asch, please explain what you want with us then we can all be on our merry little ways."

"All I want is to get back to Auldrant before Van does anything. According to the people here, there should be some technology that I might be able to use at a place called Bikanel Desert."

"Master Van…" said Luke.

"Brother…" muttered Tear.

"We could provide you with transport. We're on our way there ourselves," said Jade.

"I'm not travelling with a jerk like him!" Luke complained.

"Looks like we can agree on something after all," scoffed Asch crossing his arms.

I growled in annoyance. "I'll take you to your destination on my Oversoul; the Al Bhed there can help you with any technological stuff. Though I doubt it's enough for a portal to another world."

"Tch, useless…" Asch mumbled. "Then at the very least, get them to lend me an aircraft. I'll search for another way myself."

"I'll see what I can do. The rest of you go with Hao-sama on Spirit of Fire and see if anyone is at the shipwreck and help any of the injured. I'll meet you all there. No complaints?"

"How about some milk before we—oof!" I punched Train away cutting off his sentence and then collapsing to my knees.

"Let us treat the injured before we leave," said Natalia.

"Yes, that would be best," said Jade peering to my injured self.

-8-0-8-

I sat by one of the campfires alone. My wounds had been tended to by Tear as she and Natalia were the only healers here. Everyone else seemed okay except for Train who was still begging for some milk.

"You're regretting, aren't you? Killing that Doctor," said Diablos out of nowhere beside me.

"Despite all my threats to kill… I've never actually taken someone's life before," I replied.

"But you did it because--"

"I did it out of shear rage. At that time I just wanted to kill him for everything he's done to us. I had no control over my dark side…"

Diablos sighed. "Darkness is the hardest to control out of all the elements. Flowing as wind, spreading as fire, deep as earth, deadly as lightning, cold as ice and water… Each of the basic elements' characteristics is incorporated into the element of Darkness. The only one it doesn't have is…"

"Light," I said amazed at his wisdom.

He continued on explaining. "Light is gentle as wind, bright as fire, nurturing as earth, powerful like lightning, soothing as water and ice…"

"What about gravity?"

"Gravity in Darkness is the ability to force into submission. Its counterpart for Light is the ability to repel, in other words, Reflect. Dark takes away life, Light restores life. That's how it is for the two Magics… So I've heard." One of the few times I've seen him this serious or rather just not freakishly happy with hearts at the end of his sentences. "You still have a long way before mastering Black Magic."

I was silent for a few moments as the fire crackled. "Thanks," I mumbled

"Hm? What for?"

"For helping me realize how much I suck."

"Err, I didn't mean it that way…"

"My inability to control my Darkness tells me that it's getting stronger while I'm getting weaker. It means I have a greater potential ahead of me; I can still improve."

"That is correct," said Hao popping in with a smile.

"Oh, Hao-sama. You're okay now?" I said.

"Yeah. We can get going anytime." The difference between this face and the face that nearly killed me was truly frightening. One wouldn't even think that he could be capable of such a thing. I've known Hao for about three years yet he still scares me in many ways. But I know I could trust him.

-8-0-8-

We took to the skies after the several hours of rest, the explaining of the usual, and some proper introductions, and then we went our separate ways after arriving at the coast of Bikanel. Not even two seconds into the island, we got attacked! Zu from below were charging towards me and Asch. Diablos was currently in Oversoul mode dodging attacks so his help was out of the question.

"Hey! Can you use Fonic Artes? Judging from your weapon, I assume you're a Fonist!" yelled Asch over the sound of the wind.

"If by Fonist you mean Mage, then yeah!" I replied.

"Follow my lead!"

"Got it!"

Asch started the incantation as a glyph appeared below him glowing lightly. "O darkened storm cloud,"

"Loose thy blade and…"

"Run mine enemies through!"  
"Run mine enemies through!"

"Thunder…"

"…Blade!"

Four were instantly incinerated; only pyreflies remained floating away. "Watch out!" I warned. Asch had gotten knocked off the Oversoul. I instantly switched over to my armoured Oversoul and grabbed his arm. "Dammit…"

"Bring all to ash and ruin! Explosion!" shouted Asch. A glimmering light fell from the sky and, well, exploded. I lost my balance within the shockwave and crashed into the ground.

I blurted, "Are you STUPID or something? You could've killed both of us!"

"You're the one who lost control in the air!"

"Well maybe if you hadn't exploded the entire field--!" I cut my speech mid way; I just realized we had barged an Al Bhed camp; various machina were scattered throughout the sands. There were many murmurs in the other language of Spira. _"R-rao, druca baubma vmaf eh vnus dra cgo!" "Yna drao veahtc?" "Tuh'd mad ouin kiynt tufh!"_

"What the hell are they saying?" Asch asked me.

"As if I'd know; they're Al Bhed."

"_Tu hud ryns dras._ Kuro, _ruf ryja oui paah?"_ said someone I knew all too well walking out from the crowd.

"In a language that we can understand please, Ciel," I told him annoyed.

"My apologies, Kuro," he said smiling.

Asch looked at me. "You know him?"

"I suppose. Ciel here can be your translator for the time being. I gotta go and meet with the others."

"But I never agreed to—"

"Alright then," said Asch. "Take care of Natalia for me."

"Natalia?" I said surprised.

"Just go!" he snapped before I could say anymore.

-8-0-8-

As I walked away from the camp and into the empty sea of sand and sky, I called up Diablos.

"You rang?" he said behind me in a deep voice trying to imitate that butler dude from The Addams Family.

"Quit fooling around, you idiot."

"I'm tired okay? Can't we just rest a bit?" he said peering up to the clear blue skies.

"We have to find a place to rest first. We'll burn in the sun if we don't--"

"Hey look it's a scarecrow!" he said in a freakishly happy delusional state.

"Two seconds and you're already hallucinating…" I grumbled shaking my head.

"No no, really look." So I looked to where he was pointing at. Sure enough, there was a lone scarecrow in the middle of nowhere. "See?"

"Hmhmm… I must be hallucinating as well. Let's just get the hell outta here," I decided just about to walk away. Diablos ignored me and ran up to the scarecrow. Reluctantly, I followed. "Diablos!"

"I swear, I've seen this thing before…" he said observing it. "Now where…huh?"

I groaned, dying in the sun's merciless rays, "DIABLOS!"

"Eh, sorry! There's some shade by those ruins, come on."

As I stomped off, I swore that scarecrow had moved.

-8-0-8-

Since he was used to fiery flaming heat, Diablos seemed well enough to move around. I, on the other hand, was not.

"Here, some water from the oasis." He handed me a canister.

"I hate the heat…" I croaked trying to drink the water. "I hate the heat…"

"You doing okay?"

"I hate the heat…"

"You been repeating that since we got here…"

"I hate the heat…"

"We have to move on soon."

"I hate the heat…"

"If you don't wanna move I'll possess you and make you move," he threatened and I suddenly felt all better.

"Ehh! Let's Oversoul!" I hate the heat…

-8-0-8-

A/N: Apologies for the extreme lateness!


	9. The Flame

Final Fantasy Spiral

Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!

A/N: What? Author's Note in the beginning? Well, this is what I'm gonna call a speed chapter. Since Kuro appears for most of the end of "Through the Fireplace: Pilgrimage" there is no need to repeat it here. I hope you've enjoyed both sides of the story up until now!

Chapter 9: The Flame

-8-0-8-

After getting swallowed up by a worm, meeting Kiako, and riding a hammer out of the worm's innards, I left to meet up with my gang at the Shera. Hao was there mid-way to greet me. That red giant, his main spirit, I can never miss it.

"Hey, it looks like you made it here Hao-sama." I undid my Oversoul and Diablos reverted to his human form. "What's going on?"

"A battle it seems," he said calmly. "The WRO members here started attacking suddenly."

"Alright, let's help out Diablos."

"How come you're never as obedient with anyone else?" asked the devil.

"Last time I listened to you I ended up in Hell!" I protested.

"Well uh…" A WRO guy abruptly popped up from the sand behind the stupid devil as I casted Fire to interrupt his attack. More kept swarming in from all directions. One of them opened its mouth to reveal a gun and was about to shoot when I saw a red claw punch its face. Another was about to strike behind Hao but I merely bonked its head and knocked it out. A maniacally laughing man suddenly flew past me in a chair.

"… Let's forget we saw that…" I said, the others nodding.

"For WRO members, they seemed rather weak…" Diablos said scratching his head.

"Two other people were here before fighting off the stronger ones," said Hao. "I arrived here not too sooner than you did, Kuro."

I knew it. "White blob man."

Diablos probably knew too. "And black blob man." In other words, Ciel and Asch.

"Oh yeah," Hao remembered, "Ciel told me something about a cat and tomatoes."

"Ahem, care to elaborate?" I said.

"Your friend is being attacked by tomatoes, is what he means." Enter Jade Curtiss. "Shall I take you to her?"

"Why didn't you save her yourself?" I asked annoyed.

Jade smiled. "I was having too much fun watching."

I growled, "Damn you… Hao-sama?"

"Yes?"

"Go to the Shera and assist whoever needs help please. We'll rescue Kiako from these… tomatoes…" I said with no motivation.

"Well then I shall--"

"YOU are coming with me Mr. Fun and Lazy!" I snapped grabbing Jade's arm and dragging him off. "By the way, do you know anyone with a flying chair?"

"Ugh… It's a long story…" Jade sighed.

-8-0-8-

With the tomato mishap over, all of us were finally united at the Shera. Preparations for war against what were known to be the Akuma, the 'fake' WRO members, were underway. Other enemies also seemed to be involved.

"The stars of the desert are beautiful aren't they?" said Hao beside me. Leon and Jade seemed to be squabbling about something… "I haven't seen a sight like this in quite awhile."

"Yeah…" I said bluntly.

"It's unusual for you to be this tense. What's wrong?"

"I've been carrying this burden for so long it just might be getting to me."

"People's lives?"

"Yeah. It's tough, even more so with so many people now." I could hear myself waver. "It's pathetic of me isn't it? That I can't trust in anyone except maybe you or…"

"It can't be helped. There's just not many people you can pass of your burdens to. You have surpassed my expectations, Kuro. For a human, you really are interesting."

"Hao-sama, can you do a favour for me?"

"What is it?"

"Since everyone will be splitting into groups, I'd like you to be on a team other than mine. I know very well that you can handle taking care of the others."

He blinked for a bit and then nodded. "Alright then." As much as I would've liked to fight along side him again, for this war, it was best to split the most powerful on my side to ensure no one is killed.

"The stars really are nice tonight."

"Hm? What's this, you two are together again?" Jade said with a smirk.

"What do you want?" I said.

"Just… hanging around."

"If you were hanging around you'd be like that guy over there," I said pointing to the sleeping beauty-devil hanging off the edge of a cliff.

"Funny. In any case, Reeve would like to see you for a moment."

I walked on my own through the cool desert sands to the tent where Reeve and some of the others were residing.

"Ah, Kuro, you're here too?" said Kariudo, one of the trio of summoners that included Kiako and me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

After Kiako showed up, we discussed the change of plans. To sum it all up, the battlefield would be in the Calm Lands and we had the co-operation of Balamb from Squall. SeeDs were to join in on the so called war. The summoner trio would send the Magus Sisters at the temple there. Looks like we were all getting separated again, so Kiako decided to take group photos of everyone as a sort of final farewell. I was extremely reluctant to do this but whatever. I never could willingly smile whenever I wanted.

-8-0-8-

We hitched a ride on one of Cid's ships with the ToA gang after Jade knocked me out and dragged me into it. Arriving at Remiem Temple, we discovered a barrier that would only let summoners (and summons) through leaving behind the others. The three of us managed to get through the place in one piece after discovering some Chocobos and a walking TV robot thing. Black Chocobo yay!

Reaching an intersection, we went our separate ways. The room started warping into a medieval-like area with burning houses and dead people everywhere. "The trial huh?" The Chocobo I was riding on started to squeal and dodged a flame from some crazy dragon up above in the night sky. "Damn that was close… Thanks."

"No problem…" it said. Last time I checked, Chocobos don't talk. Then I realized…

"Diablos!" I bawled. He showed himself in human form out from behind a busted door.

"What's up?" he greeted; his eyes were glowing. I looked at the Chocobo and they were glowing too.

"Possession huh?"

"Exactly," Diablos smiled throwing something to me as I fumbled and nearly dropped it.

"WHAT KIND OF IDIOT THROWS A KNIFE AT SOMEONE?" I screamed.

"It's fun! Come on!" Controlling my ride, that fiend led me to the midst of the battle that was apparently going on. "Use this, kill that." He held up a knife and chucked it at the ogre looking creature. It clanked off its head as it turned around looking quite angry.

I sighed. "Lemme show you how it's done." Dismounting the Chocobo, I snatched the throwing knives and started on a rampage of death, literally. I was soaked in the monsters' blood as I tossed the last of my knives at my final victim. Standing beside me was a fear-struck devil holding a lone knife.

"Note to self… Keep throwing weapons away from Kuro…" he said meekly tossing the knife away. The room reverted back to the temple only… "Hm? The floor seems to be missing. I sense your friends somewhere down there."

"That pit leads to oblivion… I can imagine Kiako winding up there, but not Kariudo-kun," I said meekly.

"One way to find out!" Without warning, he shoved me into the pitch black hole.

"You bastard!" I screamed at him, echoing as I fell through the darkness.

-8-0-8-

Joining up with Kiako and Kariudo once again, we faced off against the Magus Sisters and sent them to the Farplane after a great deal of fighting. I accidentally broke Kiako's pet TV, Canti or whatever it was called. Not like there was anything I could do about that, my Indignation spell ROCKS! Exiting the dungeon, we found ourselves meeting up with Jade and his gang. The casualties from the war were beyond substantial… I couldn't believe so many died… but…somehow… I don't feel sad or anything.

'I'm sick of this…' I thought to myself back on the airship inside one of the bedrooms. 'How much more do I have keep fighting? As much as I want to stay and protect these people, another side of me is telling me that it's just pointless; this isn't even my world…'

"That's quite a dilemma you have…" said Hao softly at the door.

"I keep forgetting that you know everything…" I muttered under my breath.

"For others' sake, you're willing to do just about anything, even if it means to suffer yourself. That's the kind of person you are… But that will soon lead to self-destruction someday."

'It already has before…' I looked down at the cold metal floor. "I can endure this. If there are others who want me to live, then I'll live for them. Everyone else's flame keeps me bound here. Until those flames die, I won't either."

"Even if it's for those from another world?"

"A life is a life. You can only have one--" I thought about that for a moment because Hao was on his third life… "Well, unless you're a crazy old shaman."

Hao laughed at my statement. "True indeed. You'll just have to bear with this crazy old shaman for a bit longer. In any case, if you're done sorting with your thoughts, shall we go meet with the others?"

I sighed with content. "Yeah, let's go then." 'Thanks to you, I can always keep my own flame burning. Otherwise… I might have given up long ago…'

"I can hear every word…" he said smirking and walked away.

"…Dammit!" I cursed slapping my head. Even now, I'm still not used to that mind reading power.

-8-0-8-

"AHHHH!"

"Get them!"

"Kiako!"

"Those Deep Ground bastards… DIE!"

"Who cares!"

"Dammit…Miu?!"

"She leaked info to the enemy!"

"LEMME GO! I'LL KILL THAT TRAITOR!"

"Kuro! Calm down!"

"I can't hold her back for long!"

"Kuro-sama, if you kill her we can't interrogate her."

"Don't you go dying on me like that again! … Welcome back, Kiako."

…

"Let's go… to send the final aeon!"

-8-0-8-

A/N: What? Author's Note again? I know this is an abrupt ending… very abrupt… but there's really nothing more for me to add on Kuro's side of Through the Fireplace. Everything is explained on Kiako's side in chapters 32 and on, so be sure to give it a read. A new arc will be starting with Kuro (finally) in high school. Lots of new, crazy randomness will take place with Bleach's Soul Society running the school!

Edit: One more chapter to complete this incompleteness! Sorry to those who were disappointed at my laziness! Next chapter will truly complete this fic Please wait patiently until then. Thank you!


	10. PhInale Phantasmagoria

Final Fantasy Spiral

Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!

A/N: Takes place around chapter 34 of Kiako's "Through the Fireplace: Pilgrimage" in case you're as lost I as was.

Chapter 10: PhInale Phantasmagoria

-8-0-8-

I was back in my room on the airship barely remembering what had happened yesterday. Today was the day we finish our mission here on Spira. She could have died… That idiot could have died… The final battle was finally here and I'm all mentally busted up! Dammit DAMMIT!

"DAMMIT!" I shouted throwing a pillow at the door.

"Hey Kur- GWAH!" Diablos was instantly greeted with a face full of cotton.

With my arm still forward, I blinked a couple times and simply said, "…Sorry."

"I can guess something is wrong if you're brutally abusing inanimate objects… and me," he said picking up the pillow and then came to sit at the corner of the bed.

"It's nothing really. I'll be fine in an hour," I replied with a sigh.

"I'm not sure if this airship can hold that long if you decide to use something other than a pillow…" he tried humoring me.

"Just leave me already. I don't like-"

"'-to be seen when I'm an emotional wreck?'" he said quoting right off my mind. "Really, you don't need mind reading powers to figure that out."

"Then go already…" I grumbled.

Diablos' eyes gave a faint, wavy glow as he materialized his sword and raised it towards me. "Sorry but we don't have an hour to spare for you to get out of your slump. I'll do it in 5 minutes."

"I thought I asked you to leave--!" The blade was now at my neck.

"I don't take orders from a lowly human." I have never felt this strange mix of anger, anguish and fear before…

Luke, who just happened to walk by the room and just happened to glimpse the dark auras surrounding us, said "H-hey! What do you think you're doing?"

We both turned to him. "Shut up you damn dreck!" Luke seemed petrified and quietly slipped away just as we tore through the ceiling and commenced battling.

"I don't believe that even in an hour that you'll recover," stated Diablos. "We can't have anything hindering the most important fight in this world!"

"I've dealt with hardships before. This one's no different!" I lashed at him with my scythe only to miss. "I have no need for another worrywart in my life!"

"Then you shouldn't have even become my summoner!" He got me there. "You beat me fairly that day. I submitted to you because I thought you were worthy to be my summoner. I saved your life because I thought it would be worth seeing it to the end." Diablos was about to slash my legs to disable my mobility but missed as I jumped out of the way.

"A life like mine? You've gotta be joking." I countered with Firaga. "What makes me so special that you chose me?"

"…" He was at a loss of words.

"Why should an all powerful demon serve under a human?"

"… Honestly, I have no answer for you," he finally replied. "It's just that having a companion… isn't all that bad is it?" I sighed and turned back.

"For an embodiment of darkness, you're surprisingly too kind." I jumped into the hole in the roof and back into my room. Diablos came in after from behind and before I knew it his arms were around me.

"Sorry, but… You lose," he smirked.

"… Bastard… caught me off guard… Miracles only happen once!" I screamed quoting something from Bleach blasting a Firaga into the devil and sending him flying out through the door creating a crater in the wall. "YOU lose. Bleh!" I stuck my tongue out at him. The Tales of the Abyss gang rushed to the scene to see what the heck had just happened. There was a really long pause as the smoke cleared.

"Should we ask?" wondered Jade pushing up his glasses.

"No," I said bluntly.

"Well then, if you're ready, please meet the rest of us outside. …And try not to destroy the airship on your way out."

"Roger that, colonel," I said giving a sarcastic salute. The gang left and I faced the crippled thing in the wall. "Hm. You got what was coming." I proceeded out of the hall towards the exit of the ship quietly laughing to myself.

"…Don't I get a thanks?" croaked Diablos. "Ugh…"

Looks like it really only took five minutes.

-8-0-8-

"Alrighty. We'll split into three groups…"

"Why?" I asked Kiako. "That's just gonna make things a lot longer."

"Can't we have a bit of fun before facing off the final boss?"

I couldn't believe we were already here… at the foot of Zanarkand Ruins. Towering ruins in front of a sunset scenery with pyreflies scattered about… it was truly a sight worth seeing once. Man, it felt like so long ago that we first arrived in Besaid and beat the hell out of Wakka…

"I think this sounds really interesting," said Kariudo. "Let's have a race to see who reaches the old stadium first."

"Fine," I groaned. "You know I can just-"

"No flying!" exclaimed Kiako and Kariudo before I could say anything more.

"Damn…"

Jade laughed. "I suppose kids will always be kids. It must be great to have that youthful enthusiasm."

"You sound so old, colonel," laughed Anise.

"Hm but alas there are four paths and three summoners."

Kiako thought for a moment. "How about we each take just a few guardians and the rest can go through the other path?"

"That way we can get _all_ the treasures!" exclaimed Anise. "Heheheh~"

Luke mumbled, "Lil' money-grubber…"

"But Kuro only gets one," Kiako added.

"Not fair!" I protested.

"You're an all powerful black mage of death!" she exclaimed.

"Then I--" Before Diablos could say anything I punched him. "Oi!" he blurted to me as I took his arm and dashed off.

"If you've got time to talk, run at the same time dumbass!" I yelled.

"Whoa! Did Kuro-sama just swear?!" screamed Kiako in amazement. "Wait, HEY! I demand a restart!"

"You know how competitive she can be. Come on Kiako, let's just go~" said Kariudo heading toward her set path.

-8-0-8-

I sat by a broken pillar to rest a bit. Beneath all this rock and rubble, it was a lot darker than I thought. "It sucks not being allowed to fly…" I panted.

"We only ran for five minutes; how can you already be tired?" asked Diablos.

"A little misfortune… I was born with… called asthma," I answered still catching my breath a bit.

"Then let's just fl—oh yeah we can't…"

"Just brilliant aren't you?" I said with utmost sarcasm.

"Why are you always like this?"

"What do you mean 'like this?'" I retorted angrilly.

Diablos gave a sigh. "Always mad at the world for no apparent reason…"

A gentle breeze blew through the ruins and pyreflies floated about. "You know, I'm having a good time right now, living like this… but someday…"

"…the dream will end…" Diablos said finishing that quote.

"Don't you know a thing about copyright infringement?"

"As long as I don't claim the quote it's fine," he whispered.

"… Ahem…Yes. Once everything returns to normal, I'll have to return to that dull life of mine… It's something I wish I didn't have to do…" I stood up and set off again towards the depth of the ruins. "Come on or I'll lose the race."

"Heh. You already lost the second it begun," he scoffed.

"I blame you, idiot."

"Since when was this my fault?"

"Since before you existed, idiot."

"The whole universe might as well be an idiot, right?"

"That's right, idiot. Now hurry up, idiot!"

-8-0-8-

After finishing off a weak fiend, I began to notice that all the fiends here were a complete joke. I recall going through here in FFX that the fiends were pretty tough and annoying. I seriously doubt that my power is THAT great for a one-hit-KO attack. This concerns me a bit.

"Hey Diablos…"

"Huh?"

"Why are the fiends so damn weak here despite it being the final dungeon?"

"That's a good question. Let's ask the guy causing this."

I gave him a blank stare. "When we don't even know who it is?"

"It's obvious who it is, isn't it?"

"No it isn't," I said.

I heard a few steps behind me. Assuming it was a fiend, I blasted it with Fira. "Now now, is that how you should treat a friend of a friend, little mage?" A Nulblaze spell floated within the dust and then dissipated.

I dramatically gave a dramatic gasp and pointed dramatically at the wizard with lots of drama. "It's… white blob man!"

"This is the thanks I get for clearing the fiends for you?" he said wiping dirt off his mantle.

"Ciel, what brings you here?" Diablos asked cheerfully.

"I am on my own mission and I just happened to run into you," he answered.

"What mission now? You're just slaying fiends aren't you?" I said with a bit of an attitude.

"I have been ordered by Sir Wakka to locate you, little mage. He told me to deliver a very important message."

I shook my head. "What could possibly be so important coming from that moron? Moreover you were 'ordered' by him?"

"Unfortunately I cannot reveal to you what it is unless you play a game with me."

"Kuro, it's gotta be important if Ciel won't tell us!" said Diablos with his creepy eyes gleaming at me like some deranged yet meant to be cute puppy.

I slowly backed away from Diablos. "If it'll get rid of you then fine."

"Let us start." Ciel removed the bandages that were covering his right eye. A strange force fell upon me as a grid appeared before me with numbers in the first row and column. Everything else was paused and motionless except for the two of us. "This is called…"

"…Picross, a puzzle game found on the DS or at NG. The numbers represent clues to solve the hidden picture or perhaps message in this case by selecting the white squares hidden beneath the blue. You can only make five mistakes otherwise it is game over," I explained.

"Excellent. Your left hand will find the white squares while your right will be your X markers. But for this particular puzzle, game over means your life. You have 10 minutes on this 20 by 20 grid so good luck~"

"S-Seriously?" I exclaimed with a bit of worry.

"3…2…1…"

"Hey wait!"

"Go." The timer started its count down.

Without hesitation, I searched for the row or column with the greatest number of squares, marked them off one by one being careful not to hit the wrong square, and moved on from there. After five minutes, I had just about half the grid solved with only two strikes left. "Shit!" I hit the wrong square! Now I'm down to one life left… Ciel seemed to be entertained. Carefully finishing the last of it with a minute to spare and already knowing the message, I threw my scythe at Ciel who simply moved his head to the side to dodge.

"THAT'S ALL HE WANTED TO SAY?" I screamed in rage.

"Calm down, there is truly is something important I must tell you," Ciel said in his usual composed demeanor. He closed his eyes and the Picross grid vanished allowing time to move freely again. "Well done by the way."

Diablos blinked. "Eh? How'd your scythe get there, Kuro?"

"Enough of this; tell me what's so important that I had to risk my life for it!" I growled.

"It is your opponent, Miu. She has the ability for a PhInale summon."

"No no no, I do NOT want to face Yu Yevon! I do NOT want to face Yu Yevon!" I muttered horrified at the thought of facing a black blob with six legs and a glowing eyeball that has two floating pillar things for allies. "Or SIN for that matter!" I added picturing the giant whale-looking creature.

"PhInale not final," Ciel corrected my thoughts with a visual spelling of PhInale on the dirt. "It means the summoning of the Dark Aeons."

"I am NOT fighting THEM all over AGAIN!" I shouted.

"Then you should be hurrying to the stadium rather than participating in games and losing races. I have cleared the way; the rest is up to you summoners." And with that, Ciel made a dramatic leave.

"Tch, then we've got no time to waste. Diablos! Armored Oversoul! Black Phoenix!" I took off towards the old Blitzball stadium with amazing speed only to screech to a stop and realize something. "How the hell did white blob man know I was in a race? Moreover I'm LOSING?"

-8-0-8-

Despite all that, I made it first to the entrance of the stadium only to be greeted with a whistle and a red card. "Disqualified, Kuro is disqualified."

"What the hell Jade!" I cried out in anger shredding the card into bits.

"What is it?" he said smiling. "I am merely doing my job as referee."

"Ugh, this is no time to be fooling around! Miu's in that building about to resummon our nightmares all over again!"

Hao seemed to realize what was going on. "You can't mean…"

"That's right," I said, "The Dark Aeons." There was a long pause in silence. "Those who were with Kariudo and Kiako, go search for them in the remaining paths and bring them here."

'I guess this is where it all ends…'

-8-0-8-

After the encounter with blue dude (Azul), the slut queen (Miu), and finally Seymour (girly man)… er I mean girly man (Seymour)… Ah who the hell cares at this point! That girly bastard was in front of me and will soon be dead.

"Kiako!! If you don't want your lovey Heihachi's death, along with Cliff the Windowbreaker and Fayt the alarm's deaths to be in vain, leave Seymour to me, AND GO STOP THAT CRAZY SLUT!!" I shouted. I regarded Kiako and knew she didn't want to leave me here. Eventually she casted a Full Cure spell on me and headed off to fight Miu. Seymour attempted to stop them but Hao flung him into the wall with Spirit of Fire and Jade used Absolute to freeze him there in a coffin of ice.

"Hm. Are you sure that was wise?" asked Seymour. "To leave the final battle up to your friends?"

"Heh," I grinned. "If that idiot is still alive after all these years of me bashing her in the head, I can rest assured that slut will go down."

"Hmph, how bold of you." Seymour broke free of the ice prison and began casting a Gravija spell; Jade and Hao dodged.

"Kuro! Get out of the way!" yelled Jade.

I couldn't dodge in time; the spell hit me with full force. It was then I realized this wasn't Gravija. I was trapped within the translucent dome of energy. Trying an array of spells that failed to break the dome, I attempted an Oversoul. "Dammit, I can't summon?" I looked over to the side to find that Jade was also sealed.

Seymour gave a hysterical laugh. "Now, watch as I take down your friends one by one! Starting with this puny human…"

"Calling Hao-sama 'puny' isn't the smartest idea…" I whispered to myself shaking my head.

"Hmm? Are you perhaps implying that I am the weakest of the three?" Hao said.

"I am not merely just implying it. I will show you myself just how weak you are!" Seymour morphed into his final form. The process took a bit of time but really, who cares what he looked like as he was transforming? So now he is this giant ugly thing with four elemental nodes in each corner.

Now, I must have blinked or something because Seymour was defeated in less than a minute. Here's what happened: Hao had formed his Kurobina armored Oversoul and took flight for the elemental node that was weak against fire and slashed it with a fiery claw. Switching his Spirit of Fire's element to water he eliminated the next node then to ice element with the next node and thunder with the last. Finally switching to his original form, Hao readied two cannons that were at his back and said his famous line with a sadistic smile; "How small…" and then blasted a massive beam he called the Onibi annihilating pretty much everything in its path.

"…" was my response as the barrier around Jade shattered.

Hao sighed with slight disappointment. "As I thought, my reduced power in this world just wasn't enough to…" He keeled over from over usage of Furyoku. Seymour is still alive?! Oh boy and here comes his annoying evil laughter…

"My my, I could almost say that you're more tenacious than Dist the Runny," remarked Jade in his usual tone of sarcasm. I swear, somewhere in the distance I might have heard Dist screaming, "IT'S ROSE DAMMIT!"

Seymour was in his original Guado form looking a bit tired only. "As I thought, Miulinia's ability is truly amazing…"

"Feh, power leeching bastard…" I muttered still trapped in the energy dome, trying to bust out using my scythe.

Before anything else could happen, Seymour launched a series of lightning bolts at Jade who managed to dodge most of them. Knowing he wouldn't be able to survive for long, being a magic user and all, he went into Overlimits and began an incantation.

"I, who stand in the full light of the heavens command thee, who opens the gates of hell, come forth divine lightning!" Beams of light shot to the ceiling creating pseudo glowing clouds as a glyph appeared. "This ends now! Indignation!" I shielded my eyes and a great flash of lighting and roar of thunder filled the area.

The smoke cleared to reveal a standing girly man about to launch a spell.

"Jade!" I shouted. He was instantly knocked out by the severe impact of Seymour's Firaja. My barrier was finally dissolved after slashing it hordes of times. Good thing too, as I was feeling lightheaded from breathing the same air over and over.

"So, mage girl. You are the only one left. Shall I finish them off now, or let all of you see the Farplane together at once? Either way, all living things will eventually fall into the spiral of death." Hence the name Spira eh bastard? Stop trying to sound smart when you're not!

"Che! Screw you." I charged up a Waterga and Thundaga in my left hand and scythe in my right respectively and dashed towards Seymour only for my magic to break down. "What?"

"That dome did more than trap you, puny mage. I managed to defeat your friends thanks to you," Seymour smirked.

"Bastard! Weakling! You were feeding off my magic!"

"Flare!" The bright blast of non-elemental magic blew through a nearby wall as I fell to my knee.

"Quite the fighter, I would finish you now. But alas... I need you summoners for later." Seymour said and peered at Kiako who just arrived. "I see Miulinia has failed."

Kiako eventually went into a frenzied state after getting provoked with Heihachi's death and tore apart Seymour's shoulder. Being the coward that he was, Seymour escaped through a portal he ripped open himself. Bet he got that ability from Dist…

Soon after, Ciel appeared into the scene to help heal and even tried to revive some people. Honestly, that guy is a weirdo. One minute he's messing with my lifespan in a stupid game of Picross, now he's healing everyone in sight… Just who is he?

Human form Diablos showed up eventually too, complaining that he missed all the fun. "Dia-kun, it's your own fault you didn't show up."

"Oi, at least say my name fully… And I'm older than you so –kun isn't the right suffix…" he retorted crossing his arms.

"Then, Diakun."

"You just removed the hyphen!"

Suddenly the door squeaked open to reveal the cowardly brat. After threatening to absolutely obliterate this pathetic girl, Dist decided to show up and escape with it—I mean her through a rift in space.

"Farewell!! HAHA! AHH!!" Jade was hanging onto Dist's flyable chair as the portal grew in size. Being a lightweight feather, I was immediately lifted into the air by the portal's suction power. Managing to latch on a pole, I felt something hit my back and then a faint shadow flew past me into the void. And then came Kiako who started to float. Kariudo and I tried to keep her down but to no avail. The vacuum was too powerful (EVERY HOUSEHOLD SHOULD HAVE ONE) and we were all eventually engulfed in darkness.

-8-0-8-

RIIIIIING!!!

"Oh god what the hell is this ringing?" I got up from the sofa. Wait, sofa? This is… my house…

RIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!

"WEIOHFRLG I'M UP GEEZ! STUPID ASS PHONE!" You know, I thought I annihilated my phones a while ago… Hm…

Regaining my composure, I picked up the phone. It was Kiako. It seemed she made it back safely and no one else was on her side either. While still chatting, I opened my fridge to see a reddish orange swirly haired person looking thing and instantly slammed the door before it could possibly say a "Ya." It was just my imagination, just my imagination… I slowly opened the door again and grabbed it by its swirly top, pried open the back sliding window-door and hurled it into the sky hoping it would land in Kiako's fridge or something. That was too creepy. Too creepy, man. I don't like creepy veggies.

"Huh, what the… something on my back…" I tried to reach for it only to knock it off. It was a piece of paper with some writing on it.

'I'll be back. –Diablos'

I stared at it for a few minutes and shook my head, then glared at it some more. Eventually I placed the sheet in my drawer and got ready for school.

It was all a dream. Just a dream. I didn't see anything weird okay? And now that it's over, it's time for me to face reality once again.

-8-0-8-

A/N: Didn't I tell you I'd finish it? Hahaha. Don't worry, I know that I completely fail for being inactive for two years. 8D


End file.
